RWBY: Competition Moon
by The Heretic Lord
Summary: With the Vytal festival coming, Beacon academy has developed Competition Moon to rank the students. Jaune is scared of failing even before the tournament starts. As such, he needs to find a way to train without Pyrrha, but what follows him after is trouble and misunderstandings. Story focus on Jaune and Ren while they deal with their daily problems and obliviousness with girls.
1. Chapter 1

** Competition Moon**

** Chapter 1: Jaune's problem and Ren's trouble**

"Aaaaaaahh!" Shouted Jaune while falling from the skies.

Slightly lower than him was Ren.

Ren, due to the same circunstances, was also falling. However, he would not shout. That wouldn't change the situation and only waste his voice.

Ren knew from the very start that something bad would happen when he agreed to go train with Jaune in the woods. But he decided to go against his instincts and trust his leader.

He didn't hate Jaune. It was just that he had a talent in getting into bad situations.

Ren tought it really didn't matter anyway. He would just manage to grab the tree down there and make his way to the ground safely. Saving Jaune would be the hard part.

He looked up and down and then adjusted his body.

"NOW!" He shouted to get Jaunes attention.

However, as soon as he grabed the wood, a recognizable red javelin pierced through it.

'This is bad' he tought opening his eyes wide.

The boy in green crashed into the ground.

"Ugh".

His aura protected him, but most of it was wasted during the training, so he still suffered some damage and pain.

"Can't get worse" he muttered.

"I am sorry!"

He twisted his head and Pyrrha was falling in his direction. He looked up and saw the trajectory Jaune was falling.

'How did this happen anyway?' He tought. 'This trickery of destiny that will destroy my ribcage'.

* * *

Earlier that day...

After professor Port's class had ended Jaune was scared.

Befote the Vytal tournament, Competition Moon was supposed to take place in Beacon to select the most adept students for the tournament.

Any student would still be able to participate either way, but the selected ones would be considered the best within the school and get support.

Likewise, some would also be able to fall down, be ignored and be considered the worst.

Jaune had been learning to fight with Pyrrha, but... What if it wasn't enough? Besides, maybe he would have been dragging her down. Pyrrha was one of the best, he couldn't risk being responsible for making her fail.

Also, as her apprentice he couldn't be one of the lower ranks.

That's why after class he decided to ask Ren to train with him in the forest. Ren was a cool guy and he seemed to understand women (or so Jaune tought after seeing his relatioship with Nora).

So he would be able to help Jaune in his training and in helping the boy to cancel his training with Pyrrha.

Ren agreed right away and they went to the forest.

But... Things happened... Like a Nevermore...

* * *

"Nora" Pyrrha called her teamate when she oppened their room's door.

"Hey, Pyrrha" Nora bit a bar of chocolate "want some?"

"Err... Later" she refused "have you seem Jaune?"

"Nope".

"Nope?"

"Nope!" She replied happily "what? You were supposed to have a date or something?"

"No!" She replied red.

"Then you want to ask him out?"

"No!" She replied even redder.

While Pyrrha's supposed crush on Jaune was a discrete one, living in the same room was enough to make Nora notice there was something between the two of them.

Nora tried to be a cupid sometimes, but she failed in most of it. Except one time she accidentaly sent Jaune to the infirmary and had Pyrrha help treating him.

But Ren also noticed that and told her to stop being a cupid after the incident, saying that onwards only more trouble would rise.

"He can't have forgoten" Pyrrha muttered. She was supposed to help him become a better warrior after all.

"It was a date after all?!" Nora asked with sparkling eyes.

"No!" Pyrrha ran out of the room, but also ran against Blake and she dropped her books.

"I'm sorry" Pyrrha said.

Blake only smiled.

"It's no problem".

When Pyrrha tried to help by picking up the books, she noticed a particular one.

"The Ninjas of..."

"It's not mine!" Blake took the book in panic "it's just... A friend asked me to get it from the library..."

"I see..."

Blake noticed right away she should have made a better excuse beforehand. It's way better to prepare a good one than trying to make one on the moment.

'What am i gonna do' she tought.

But Pyrrha, also red by recognizing the book, only asked:

"A-anyway... Have you seem Jaune?"

"Jaune?" Blake looked at Pyrrha and noticed she was red. "Were you supposed to have a-"

"No!"

"Okay" Blake hid her relief.

Blake did have very few interactions with the boy, but it changed during the incident two weeks ago. That was when they were in Forever Fall and by a strike of the destiny were sent away from the other teams.

Initially, he didn't seem much, but afterwards they continuously encountered monsters. As soon as Blake was incapable of fighting anymore Jaune continued and took the next hit for her while killing the last ursa.

Jaune was sent to infirmary and Blake didn't talk to the boy after that. She just didn't know what to say.

'Maybe saying thanks wouldn't hurt' she thought.

"So..." Pyrrha was feeling the awkwardness after the long silence she received from Blake "you haven't?"

"No, no, i did see him" she answered "if i remember well, i saw him going to the forest with Ren".

The definition of 'saw' used meant 'spied'.

'Why would he go to the forest?' Pyrrha thought... 'With Ren...' It meant Jaune wanted to train, but not with Pyrrha, but Ren.

Pyrrha dropped her shoulders. Blake asked:

"You... Want to go after him?"

Pyrrha looked up.

"Ye-yes. I'm sorry if it is a bother".

"Don't worry. I also needed to train for Competition Moon".

And she got to train with a celebrity while also getting an opportunity to talk to Jaune.

"Come".

* * *

However, just when they go into the forest they found a locker crashed in the woods.

"Stop moving".

"Sorry, but it's just that..."

"Just nothing! It's too tight here! I don't need you moving more, it's uncomfortable!"

Pyrrha turned to Blake when she recognized those voices.

"Are they?"

"Yes" Blake replied "Weiss and Ruby".

Ruby's voice came from the crashed locker.

"My back, Weiss. Could you please scratch it?"

"No".

"Please?"

"No".

"Pleaaaasssseeeee?"

"Fine! Just stop moving... Here?"

"Oh... Yes!"

Blake looked at Pyrrha

"This is getting weird".

"Weiss, why did you stop?"

"Shut up, Ruby. Blake, it that you?"

"Yes" She answered the locker "why are you two..."

"Long story!" Weiss replied "get us out of here!"

"Okay..."

Blake took out the Gambol Shroud in katana form and sliced the lock.

"I may need help... Pyrrha?"

"Okay".

Ruby noticed her.

"Pyrrha is there too?"

"Be quiet, Ruby!" Said Weiss.

Pyrrha helped Blake in lifting the locker.

"What have you two been eating?" Blake asked when she noticed how heavy it was.

"Ugh" Pyrrha helped her in turning the locker sideways, which opened it's door and made both Ruby and Weiss fall into the ground.

"Freedom!" Weiss said.

Pyrrha extended her hand.

"Why were you two in there?"

Ruby got up.

"Well..."

* * *

Earlier that day...

Ruby opened her locker, but was hit by Weiss in the back and both were locked away and sent flying by the turbo propelled locker.

* * *

"And that's it" said Ruby.

Pyrrha and Blake turned to Weiss as soon as she got up.

"It wasn't just that, look..."

* * *

Earlier that day...

Weiss was passing by just as Ruby opened her locker. She was going to ask where Yang went when suddenly...

BOOM.

An explosion happened after a green lighting came from the door, making all the machines go crazy and blasting Weiss away. She crashed into Ruby and was sent flying by the turbo propelled locker.

* * *

"A green lightning?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yes!" Responded Weiss.

"In the middle of the locker room?" Blake asked.

"Look, some dumb idiot must have released his aura or something, and when i get him" Weiss gritted her teeth.

"More importantly" said Ruby "why are you two here?"

"Well..."

"GRWWWOOOOAAAAAHHHH!"

Just when Pyrrha was about to explain the situation that happened she saw the Deathstalker approaching.

"No problem..." Said Weiss looking at Pyrrha "your team already defeated one of those so the four of us are enough".

"Weiss" Blake called "you and Ruby are weaponless".

"Oh yeah" Ruby noticed "i let go of Crescent Rose when Weiss bumped into me".

Weiss seemed to freeze for an instant.

"Err... I don't need Myrtenaster to fight it!"

Ruby looked as the scorpion approached 'think Ruby, there must be some sort of makeshift weapon i can use...'

"Think... Woaahhh" Ruby gasped "that's it! Eat this locker!"

Ruby jumped backwards and swiftly activated the locker that was shot in the direction of the Deathstalker.

Pyrrha looked at her impressed 'now i know why she is their leader...'

Ruby looked at Pyrrha and she got the message.

Pyrrha quickly activated her semblance to accelerate the flying locker and also shot Miló at the direction of the creature, but...

The red javelin pierced the locker and it exploded, sending everyone to the skies.

* * *

Just as Pyrrha was falling she saw Ren on the ground and, unable to change her direction, she shouted:

"I'm sorry!"

She prepared for the impact, but hit something mid-air and fell on someone else.

"Ugh" he muttered.

Pyrrha looked down and got red when she saw she crashed into their leader.

"I am sorry, Jaune!"

The boy also got red and said:

"No problem... I have gained endurance from all our training together, remember?"

"Yes..."

They looked at each other in the eyes, observing one another, but soon they were awaken from their moment of peace.

"I am sorry for... Overhearing both... Of you, but... Could you please... Get off me?"

"Ren!" Jaune noticed he was on top of him.

Pyrrha got up and helped Jaune get up also, but as soon as they were going to help Ren...

Weiss fell.

"Ugh!" The boy in green muttered.

And Ruby fell.

"Argh" he groaned in pain.

Blake was coming in their direction, but used her semblance to create a copy of herself and change the trajectory, so she crashed into Jaune instead.

"Argh".

"Jaune!"

Weiss looked at them. Jaune laying down with Blake on top of him. She soon remembered the events of two weeks ago and felt envy through her body.

"What are you two doing?!"

"Blake?!" Pyrrha was surprised.

Ren felt as if his ribs were about to break.

"All... Of you... Please..."

"Ren!" Ruby noticed him surprised.

She got up and helped Weiss get off him. Blake got off Jaune and he also stood. Afterwards he approached Ren and extended his hand.

"You okay, buddy?"

"I..." Ren held his hand and forced himself to get up, using Jaune's support to remain standing "i shall be fine... Why... Are the four of you here?"

"Well, i bumped into Pyrrha..." Blake begun to explain.

"Then we went to the forest..." Pyrrha continued.

"And they freed us from a locker" Ruby said.

"And it exploded" Weiss finished the tale.

...

Jaune was trying to understand the situation.

"Uhh... What?"

Ren tried to force his logic to work while ignoring the pain.

"I think they are saying they came to train for Competition Moon".

"Ohh!"

Ren looked at Jaune and back to Weiss, Pyrrha and Blake. After the incident Nora caused two weeks ago it was clear they saw the boy in a different way than before.

'For most people this would be lucky' Ren thought 'but Jaune will need lady luck herself by his side in dealing with this situation'.

"We also came to train" Jaune responded and thought 'think Jaune, a way to explain why you would prefer skipping Pyrrha's training... C'mon, you can do this!'

"But why you..." Pyrrha begun to ask.

"We needed to discuss man stuff" Ren answered "from man to man".

"Ohh!" Pyrrha understood. Just like girls have particular conversations, boys would have too, which would explain everything. Jaune was also forgetful, so he must have forgotten to contact her. He didn't want to cancel the training at all, just have a different one.

Jaune looked at Ren in the eye and smiled 'nice one!'.

Ren only thought that was the minor of his troubles.

"But why were you in the ground?" Ruby asked him.

Facepalm. Ren knew that question was no good. His little time with Jaune taught him questions like those triggered some sort of cosmic mechanism of pure trouble.

"Grwwwwoooooaaaaaahhhh!"

And from the trees the group saw the Nevermore approaching.

"That's why" he answered.

"We have been dealing with that thing all day" said Jaune.

"As such, i am nearly out of aura... Better call Nora for backup".

"Backup?" Weiss asked "why would you need backup? Six of us together is enough".

Blake put her hand on her shoulder.

"Jaune and Ren are in no fighting condition, Ruby and you are weaponless. We will need help to get out of here".

Ren sent the message: NORA, I AM IN THE FOREST WITH JAUNE AND WE ARE ALMOST OUT OF AURA. A NEVERMORE IS ATTACKING, WE NEED YOUR HELP.

"Or we can just run away" Ruby answered.

Nora's answer was: GOT IT, REN. GONNA BRING SOME PANCAKES.

Pyrrha pointed at Jaune and Ren and the girl in the red hood noticed their condition.

"Oh..."

Nora's answer was a bit off, but Ren knew he could rely on her.

"And there is also that Deathstalker" said Weiss.

"Wait, what?" Jaune turned "you encountered a Deathstalker?"

Ren's eyes widened. The situation went from bad to worse. Since Yang was the only one remaining, he thought of calling her for help too, but his battery ended.

"I called Nora" he said "my batteries are dead. Can any of you call Yang?"

"Call Yang?!" Ruby didn't seem to like that idea "we can do this ourselves. Go team RBJWPR! (Rebel Jupiter)"

"I don't think team RBJWPR can stand in this battle, Ruby" said Jaune "but that was a really cool name".

"Agreed" said Blake.

Weiss looked at the Nevermore.

"Then what do we do?"

Ruby remembered the first time she encountered a Nevermore and smiled.

"We can ride it!"

Weiss' eyes widened.

"No! Don't even think! That was a bad idea and now it is a terrible idea!"

Jaune forced his courage to ignore the fear.

"I think we should ride".

"See?! Even him..." Weiss stopped and computed the words Jaune said "well... I guess there's no helping to it..."

'No, Weiss' Ren tought 'you were right, it's a bad idea. A really bad idea'.

"I agree" said Pyrrha while picking up her javelin.

"I as well" said Blake.

Ren backed down a little while forcing himself to remain standing 'okay, they are beyond Nora's common sense. It's better for me to go now'.

"Well... It's nothing personal, but i can barely remain standing and don't want to become a pancake when falling from a giant black bird so..."

He started to run (walk fast), but Jaune shouted:

"Blake!"

"Got it".

The Gambol Shroud tied Ren down and he fell. Jaune got closer.

"You are in no condition to go alone, we have to ride the Nevermore".

Ren didn't say a word. He only had the bad feeling they would somehow crash in the Deathstalker on the way back.

* * *

Nora was walking in the direction of the forest.

The girl did bring the pancakes, but ate all of them in the way, so she didn't have any food to help Jaune and Ren. Either way, they would only need her battle skills, so with luck she would be rewarded with Ren's cuisine.

"Grwwwwooooooaaaaahhh!"

Nora noticed the giant scorpion in front of her.

"Yes! They must be close... Now what shall be my reward? Already ate pancakes... If i choose cookies Ruby will want o eat most...

"Grwwooaaaaahhh!"

Nora evaded the Deathstaker's attacks.

"Meat takes time... But..." She remembered Ren message included something about a Nevermore "but giant chicken wings must taste great!"

Nora readied Magnhild and prepared to jump over the Deathstalker when she saw from above the black bird coming.

"Yes! Chicken wings and legs! I am a genius!"

"Noraaaa! Get down!" She listened Jaune saying so from above.

The Nevermore came crashing down in the Deathstalker and a bunch of people crashed down into Nora.

* * *

"Ugh..." Nora opened her eyes and noticed she was in a white room "where am i?"

In a bed next to her she noticed Ren.

"Infirmary... One student from the third year was passing by and brough us here... You only blacked out. I broke my arm and two ribs".

"Ohh... Are there any chicken legs in here?"

Ren smiled.

"I guess not".

"What happened?!" Ruby woke up near them".

"Silence, Ruby!" Weiss answered.

On the other side of the room was Blake, together with Weiss and Pyrrha standing near Jaune in bed.

"Girls, girls, i am fine. Really!" Jaune tried to stop them, but...

Weiss pushed him.

"You are not!"

Blake tied him into the bed.

"Stay down".

Pyrrha was bringing some food.

"And heal slowly".

"Hehe..." Ren smiled.

The boy was still hurt, but one day or two was enough for a full healing.

But he knew that while his problems would end soon, Jaune's were only beginning.

"Gonna make some pancaaaaakeeeesss".

Ren's eyes widened when he saw Nora getting away from the infirmary. 'God no!'

"Wait, Nora!" He got back to his feet, but fell down to the ground "don't touch my utensils!"

And he forced himself to get out of the infirmary. After all, he couldn't let Nora destroy another room with her culinary.

* * *

**Author notes: hey guys... I am kind of bad in making notes... So, how was the chapter? Hope you liked it. For now it's only the beginning, before Competition Moon itself. I plan to introduce later an OC team composed of characters based in old ''scary'' movies (i don't consider them scary). Like Frankenstein (the one responsible for the green lightning and the locker trouble). The team's name shall be Team VLNT (Valiant) hope you like trying to find out who are the other base characters.**

**Heretic out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Competition Moon**

**Chapter 2: Lockers' disappearence**

"Blake take it!" Jaune threw his shield to her.

Blake was on the ground, unable to fight seriously due to her broken ankle. Jaune continued with only his sword.

"Jaune, no! You need to-"

"Protect you as you protected me! You are almost out of aura. You need my shield more than me!"

Another ursa was coming for them. Blake managed to kill two already even with her injury, but was unable to fight any longer. Jaune somehow killed the next three.

Those grimm weren't like the ones of the Emerald Forest. All of them had spikes and some sort of protection. They were more resilient. But Jaune still continued fighting.

As the time passed, Blake eventually ran out of aura and Jaune had to fight alone. At that moment she was too tired and an ursa approached her from behind. And then...

"Blake! Watch out!"

Jaune left the ursa that was fighting him jumped over Blake to fight the one that was threatening Blake, but it's attack threw Jaune away and the previous monster striked Jaune in the back.

"Argh!"

The first sharp finger ripped the back part of his armor. The other three slashed him, ripping the cloth and flesh of the boy.

"Not yet" he fell to the ground "i won't fall yet..."

* * *

Blake waked up.

She remembered it. That was part of what happened in the past. Jaune risked his life to save her own. The boy fell again and again, but continued fighting.

The one that was less prepared to get into Beacon managed to save her life and help her like no one did before.

Blake hugged the pillow and blushed.

"Jaune..." She muttered his name.

* * *

"Good morning, Ren!" Nora said cheerfully.

Ren slowly opened his eyes and remembered his nightmare. 'Oh my God'.

"Where are we?"

"In our room. Why?"

Ren remembered every detail of his nightmare, mainly the part he was caught in an explosion.

"Did you blow up part of the school trying to cook?"

"Yes!" Said Nora.

"No way..." Ren opened his eyes wide.

"But that was one month ago".

'I have been sleeping for a month?!' Ren remembered then that Nora already had tried to cook and destroyed part of the cafeteria. 'No, she is referring to that time'.

"Good" Ren replied and laid down again in bed.

"You can't sleep!" Nora poked his cheek "the day has already begun. Jaune and Pyrrha already went out".

Ren didn't reply. The day could wait five, ten, fifteen minutes.

"Then i guess i should help Pyrrha in conquering Jaune" she muttered.

"I'm awake!" Ren got up fast "Ugh... What the?" He felt a pain surging through his body

"You cracked your arm, remember?"

Ren began to see the events of yesterday unfolding in his eyes. Nora ignored his silence and continued:

"Why don't you want me to help Jaune? Can it be... That you are after him too?"

"No, Nora".

"Then why? I know the incident two weeks ago could have killed him, but Pyrrha got closer to him. And that's all that matters!" She said, ignoring the consequences of what followed.

"Why are you so eager to be a cupid anyway?" Ren asked. Nora never before displayed such a will to help the love life of others.

"Well... I don't want to see another oblivious boy slowing down the relationship" she replied.

"Another?"

"Besides, it's for the best!"

Ren didn't understand what she said nor her drive, but she should have at least noticed some signs of what was happening around Jaune.

"Nora... Did you notice how Blake and Weiss were also acting around Jaune?"

"What do you mean?" Nora seemed to have genuinely not understood what he said.

*sigh* Ren knew this would take some time.

"Well... Remember yesterday?"

"When you stopped me from cooking?"

"After that".

Nora slightly blushed.

"When you had me to help you get back to the infirmary?"

"After that".

"When i tried to bring you tea and you said 'By no means this is tea! This is just water with herbs heated up!'?" Nora tried imitating Ren.

"After that... And that wasn't tea at all!" Ren tried concentrating. "Try to remember Jaune. Remember how the girls were acting?"

* * *

**Yesterday, in the infirmary...**

"Now, Jaune. Open your mouth" Pyrrha got closer.

Jaune got red and opened as Pyrrha was beginning to feed him soup with the spoon.

Although none of the girls near Jaune could notice, Nora saw when Blake skillfully hit Pyrrha's ankle, making her lose her balance and drop the soup on Jaune.

"Argh! It's hot!" He cried.

"I am sorry!" Pyrrha didn't know what to say.

Blake picked up a towel and started to clean Jaune's shirt in the stomach and slowly shifting to his face.

"Here, let me help" the ninja said.

Weiss took the spoon for Pyrrha.

"Clearly, only i have the necessary balance to feed him. Now stay still, Arc".

* * *

Nora noticed Weiss got slightly red and how Blake and Pyrrha looked at her with envy.

"Oh. My. God." Nora finally understood everything in surprise and started shouting: "Blake and Weiss-"

Ren covered her mouth so that no one could listen.

After looking at her in the eyes and, knowing she understood, he freed her.

Nora, whispering, but shouting in her mind:

"Blake and Weiss like Jaune too!"

"Yes, Nora" Ren replied.

"And they are trying to get close to him!"

"Yes, Nora".

"And Blake tried to feed Jaune by sabotaging Pyrrha, but Weiss took her opportunity!"

"Yes, Nora".

"Oh. My. God." Everything was clear to Nora now. She then noticed Ren knew all along "and you..."

"Yes, Nora".

"Since the beginning?"

"Yes, Nora".

"Oh. My. God... When did this all start?!"

"Remember the incident you caused two weeks ago?"

"That time?!" Nora tried to understand and snapped her fingers "of course! Blake was with Jaune all along! Wait, then why is Weiss after him too?"

"Remember who found them?"

Weiss was the answer in Nora's mind.

"Oh. My-"

"God. Yes, Nora, i noticed everything" Ren completed Nora's phrase.

"Then... Pyrrha is going to need my help now more than ever!"

Nora started running away from their room.

"No!"

Ren held her with his left arm and fell to the ground.

"Argh!" He felt the pain of his yet-to-fully-heal right arm. "Nora, you can't go on helping Pyrrha now".

"Why?"

"How would you feel if you were after a boy and someone helped another girl to get him?"

"How would i feel?"

* * *

**Inside Nora's mind:**

Nora tried approaching Ren, but Yang blasted her away and got close to him.

"Hello, Ren".

"Hello, Yang".

"This is Blake" Yang pushed Blake to Ren.

Blake said:

"I like books and am the quiet ninja person of my team".

"What a coincidence" said Yang "you are the quiet kung fu master person of your team. I think you two should start dating!"

"Ok" Ren replied.

"Thanks for helping me, Yang" said Blake "now come here, boyfriend".

* * *

"I wouldn't like it" Nora replied Ren.

"See? That's why you can't help Pyrrha. The issue isn't just including her anymore, but Weiss and Blake too".

Nora also noticed something: 'Ren and Blake are quiet people. Blake liking Jaune means less competition'.

Ren got up while oblivious to her thoughts.

"You see, Nora. That's why you should stop helping her. Now, let things go as they should. And only if Jaune asks for your help you should interfere".

'Besides' Ren thought 'it would be troublesome if by some freaky game of destiny more girls were to fall in love with Jaune too'.

"Got it, Ren. Now, can you take me to the Dust Cafe in Vale? I forgot how to get there..." Nora asked Ren with a cheerful smile.

Ren smiled to how Nora easily got over her drive to be cupid and also easily forgot where the Dust Cafe was.

"Sure, but only after class".

"Okay!"

'Yes...' Nora thought 'just the two of us'.

* * *

**In class...**

Professor Port was giving another lecture, but Jaune wasn't playing attention at all and his annotations were about completely different matters.

Competition Moon was still something to fear and Jaune was scribing his objectives:

1- Find a way to stop training with Pyrrha to let her prepare herself for Competition Moon;

2- Buy some fancy ingredients in Vale to apologize to Ren for causing the chain of events that broke his arm and Ribs;

3- Find someone strong enough to help me train in Pyrrha's place;

4- Should "3" fail, train alone.

...

Jaune erased part four after noticing he didn't stand a chance training alone and rewrote it:

4- Should "3" fail, pray to find someone to train me.

Jaune looked at the clock. Professor's Port class was about to be over:

"... And that's how i solved my problems of training".

The bell rung.

Jaune was screaming on the inside: 'C'MON! HE ACTUALLY WAS GIVING A SPEECH THAT COULD SOLVE MY PROBLEMS?!'

Pyrrha, who was sitting on the right, noticed Jaune wasn't fine.

"You okay, Jaune?"

"Err... What?" Pyrrha's voice pulled him back to reality "yes! I am fine..."

"You sure?"

"Yeah... I have to go now".

Jaune started to run away.

He decided what he had to do: he needed to buy something to apologize to Ren, then hope he could explain his situation to Pyrrha, then hope to find somebody to help in his training.

* * *

Weiss was surprised that Jaune had been paying attention and taking notes of Professor Port's class. Not even she could keep her concentration as he did.

'He really became a better warrior' she thought as she remembered when she found him two weeks ago...

* * *

The boy was covered in blood as there were three slashes on his back.

The bodies of eight ursas were scattered in the ground and Jaune was fighting the ninth one.

On his right hand was a white sword, on his left a familiar black katana, Blake's Gambol Shroud.

"Grwwwooaaahhh!"

The ursa advanced.

"Wooaaahh!"

And so did Jaune, even tough he was clearly tired and hurt.

Using both swords, he executed a cross slash on the creatures stomach, but that didn't stop the claw that came in his direction slashing his front.

"Argh!" Jaune felt back.

That moment... Weiss noticed he had lost his consciousness and she prepared to attack. However, Weiss was glad she didn't, as she could have killed Jaune.

Tha blonde boy waked up just in time and let go of his white sword. Using the black katana with his two hands he pierced the heart of the vile beast and muttered.

"It's... Over..." And fell to the ground.

* * *

'How did he manage to become such a warrior?!' Weiss thought while following him, noticing one of his papers fell while he ran.

Weiss picked it up and read the note.

"Oh... My... God..."

It was obvious: Pyrrha had been training him. But she didn't know if Pyrrha was a good teacher or Jaune a better student. However, it didn't matter.

'Jaune needs someone to train him' she thought.

Weiss was still struggling on how to get close to the boy. And was still regretful for not getting him when he came over to her before initiation. But a warrior was what she was. And even Jaune must have noticed how good she was during the initiation.

'This is perfect' the girl of ice finally had found a way to get close to him and smiled.

* * *

Just as class ended, Blake followed Jaune right away, trying to find an opportunity to get close to him.

However, she stopped as soon as he got inside the lockers room

"Aww c'mon!" The boy shouted.

'What happened?' Blake got close to the room's door and tried to listen what was happening.

"Hello, Jaune" Ren's voice came.

"Ren, what happened here?" Jaune asked.

"I have no idea. I came here to get Storm Flower and everything was gone".

"Oh man..."

Blake heard Jaune stepping from one way to another. This was followed by Ren's voice:

"The lockers will be found sooner or later. Now, did you solve your problems?"

"Err..."

"I guess not, huh? You want me to talk to Pyrrha on your behalf, then?"

"Will you really do this for me?" There was hope in Jaune's voice.

'Talk to Pyrrha?' Blake presumed the worst.

"Sure, but i can't train you".

'Oh... It's just about training' Blake was relieved.

"Because of your arm?"

"This... And also our styles are different. You have to find someone who fights with a sword or spear to help you".

'Wait... He needs someone besides Pyrrha to train him?' Blake started to develop a plan.

"I see... Thanks, Ren. I will search for my sword now".

'Oh no' Blake looked left and right and noticed there was nowhere to hide.

'Think Blake... That's it!' The girl distanced herself and began to walk towards the door.

Jaune opened it, but didn't get out as Ren called him:

"Call me should you find my locker".

"Got it".

Jaune turned and Blake saw him in the eyes. 'Think, i have to say something' Blake thought.

"Hello, Jau-"

"Hi, Blake. Bye Blake" Jaune passed by her running away.

Blake dropped her shoulders 'okay' she thought.

Ren passed by her and put his hand on her shoulder:

"Good luck" he whispered while going away.

Blake didn't understand the meaning behind Ren's words

'But i learned something' she noticed.

Jaune wanted to train with someone. Some sword user and she was perfect for him. Blake entered the locker room, but noticed there weren't any lockers in there.

'How am i supposed to train him without Gambol Shroud?'

But then she remembered Weiss said something about a greent lightning. 'Someone is sabotaging us...'

And someone was successful in it. As the culprit managed to scatter all the weapons of all students in school.

'I need to find it fast'.

* * *

Ren and Nora were sitting in the same table in open air at the cafe.

"This tea taste great, Ren!" Nora said cheerfully before biting the cake.

"Agreed" he answered while thinking: 'unlike that makeshift water from the infirmary'.

"The cake is great too!"

"Yes, Nora".

"Even looks like the strawberry could only have come from a magical country" she continued.

"Yes, Nora".

"And the chocolate in it has such a sweet touch..."

"Yes, Nora".

"This tea's petals make it twice as delicious as the one from the infirmary".

"Yes, Nora".

"But doesn't seem as delicious as you!"

"Yes, Nor- *cough*" Ren spit part of the tea "what did you say?"

Nora giggled.

"I meant it's not as delicious as your tea".

"I see..." A discrete blush had formed on Ren's cheeks 'she is playing with me...'

'Well, i guess it doesn't matter... After all it's such a peaceful day...'

Ren stopped his thoughts as her heard the sound of something falling from the skies (a distinct sound he grew accustomed to).

To his surprise, when he saw what was falling, it seemed like a locker.

"What the-"

CRASH

Right in front of the store one of the lockers from the school had crashed out of nowhere.

"Ren, look! A flying locker came and-"

"Yes, Nora" Ren put lien on the table to pay and said: "let's go".

* * *

'Where is it? Where is it?!' Weiss had searched through all of the school grounds for her locker and it was nowhere to be found.

'C'mon! I need to find Myrtenaster to train Jaune. And that must be before he finds someone else to help him! Where did my locker go?!'

* * *

"Is any alien in there?" Nora asked the locker.

"Nora? Is that you?" Ren and Nora recognized Yang's voice "can you help me?"

"Alright, leave it to-"

"Wait!" Ren intervened.

"You there too, Ren?"

The boy in green was afraid of how Nora would open it. Mainly for the strength the orange haired girl possessed. As such he said:

"Let's first turn it to open it up".

"Okay!"

Ren was going to help, but Nora by herself managed to turn the locker alone.

"Ouch" Yang groaned after being suddenly turned around "more gentle, please".

Ren picked up a rock and broke the locker's lock. Afterwards he opened it.

"Freedom!"

Yang got up. Nora said:

"Wow, Yang. You got a hardcore way of escaping detention".

"I wasn't trying to escape it" Yang answered. "Remember that all the lockers disappeared? Well, you see... I found mine. But i tripped and it sent me straight flying. I guess i Jaune'd on that one".

Nora said:

"No worries, Yang. Everyone does a thing or two like Jaune once a while".

"Yeah" Ren agreed "i Jaune'd yesterday. See my arm?"

"Hahahaha" Yang laughed "so, where are we?"

"Vale" Ren answered.

"Dust Cafe" said Nora.

"Ohh" Yang remembered how Ren and Nora were close "you were having a date?"

"No" Ren answered quicker than Yang anticipated "we just came to spend time in the city".

"In the Dust Cafe?"

"..." Ren didn't say a word.

"Seems like a date to me" Yang teased.

"It's not a date" Ren negated her.

"Well, fine then. If you say so..."

Yang started to lift the locker.

Ren looked at her dumbfounded at such strength.

"What?" Yang asked "someone has to take it back to Beacon. Although a damsel in distress could use some help" Yang winked at him.

"Fair enough".

Ren approached the locker, but Yang stopped him with a smile.

"What?"

Nora sided with Yang and said:

"No offense, Ren. But you don't seem fit for the job. Not that you aren't strong. You are strong. But you see..."

Ren looked at his broken arm. The boy still had a free hand, he could be useful.

"I can help".

"Next time. Come, Nora".

"Okay, Yang".

Nora and Yang lifted the locker. But Ren was surprised that the orange-haired girl was only using one hand!

Right after that, Yang only held the front part with her left hand.

'How can this be?!' Ren asked himself 'i have muscles! I am pretty sure i am strong! I can do countless push-ups!'

Yang put her free hand in his shoulder.

"See you later".

Ren was still unable to comprehend the whole situation. As Nora passed by she said:

"Don't worry, Ren. You have plenty of good points. Like your hair! It's beautiful!"

"Yeah" Yang chuckled as she got away "maybe you can give me some tips in washing mine later".

Ren stood there until they got out of his sight.

"That... Was... So... Humiliating..."

* * *

It was already night when Jaune returned.

The blonde was drenched and passed the rest of the day of the forest and found out that fighting unarmed wasn't easy (nor running away).

'Well... I guess i learned some stuff at least... Besides, i found Ren's locker. I guess it works as a form of apology'.

As he entered the school's gate, he found Weiss walking in his direction.

"Hey, Weiss" Jaune tried to at least say something.

Weiss stopped and held her head up. When Jaune looked at her in the eyes he felt the penetrating gaze of an ice queen.

"What is it?"

"Sorry" Jaune apologized instinctively "you seem busy... Going away now!"

Jaune started to run away from her 'i guess she had a bad day'.

* * *

**Weiss' view:**

After an entire day searching through school, she remembered that Ruby's locker crashed into the woods. As such, the girl decided to search there even though it was already night.

But just as she was about to exit school Jaune appeared dripping wet.

'He is here! Think Weiss, think of what to say! Remember, you have the opportunity to train him! You can get closer! Think!' She thought, but the girl didn't move.

"Hey Weiss"

'No panic!' Weiss started to feel blood going to her head and red covering her face. She couldn't stand without saying anything, she needed to talk. As such she tried to calm down, held her head up, adjusted her balance and asked in a firm voice:

"What is it?" Weiss lost her train of thoughts: 'Why did i speak in that tone?!'

"Sorry. You seem busy... Going away now!"

And then Jaune ran away.

Weiss stood there and then hit her head against the wall: 'why did i do that?! He must have thought i was some snobbish aristocrat!'

Weiss stopped.

Hope filled her head. Jaune still needed someone to train him. That was her opportunity! She still had a way to fix things up.

As such, the girl right away ran to the forest in search of her locker.

* * *

Ren passed through the school gate.

The boy in green was still shocked. It was okay to have girls stronger than him. It wasn't okay what happened.

'Think about it... They must train a lot too... But all the things people said to me during last month...'

You don't seem fit for the job.

You cook better than my mom.

Your hair is beautiful.

Ren stopped 'am i actually effeminate?'

Just as he thought that, Blake passed through him at an amazing speed and unknowingly knocked him into the ground.

He felt the pain in his ribs and arm and remembered: 'i am the only one who got hurt in the entire incident yesterday...'

The boy started walking away towards his room 'not even Jaune got the same injuries i got. He even seemed fine today...'

'Am i weak?'

* * *

Pyrrha was waiting at the rooftop, but she wasn't fine.

The entire day she had been searching and nowhere her locker was to be found. As such, she was weaponless and wouldn't be able to train with Jaune.

'Or' she thought 'we could do another sort of training...' She blushed at such idea.

"Pyrrha..."

"What?!" She was caught by surprised.

As she turned, she noticed the boy covered by moonlight with an unnatural shine.

"Err... Wh..." She couldn't say a word, but then realized this was caused because Jaune was drenched "why are you..."

"Couldn't find my locker... Found Ren's... In a lake..."

"Oh... I see..."

Pyrrha just observed the boy. Her team leader. The one who rose through willpower and hard work. In little time he managed to develop his abilities and use his potential. As such, he became a find warrior, a shining knight as the moon itself was indicating. And she wouldn't lie Jaune was cute in looks and actions.

Pyrrha averted her gaze and tried to revert her face's color back to normal.

She had bigger problems, as she couldn't find her weapons and still had to ask Jaune if he wanted to train anyway. Truth was she didn't want him to refuse if they could just stay alone bathed by the light of the stars.

"I am sorry, Pyrrha..."

Jaune's words awakened her to reality and caused confusion as she didn't know his reasons for suddenly apologizing.

"For what?" She asked.

"I... Couldn't find my locker... So i didn't bring Crocea Mors" Jaune said, averting his gaze too, as he didn't want to stop training with Pyrrha.

He didn't want at all to stop, but he needed to. As the boy wanted her to get ready for the competition, not waste her time helping the useless leader.

"Oh... It's no problem... Actually, i didn't find mine either... So..."

'So both of us wasted our nights today' Jaune thought 'way to go, leader. Can't do anything right'.

"I was thinking we could practice hand-to-hand combat. Ways to fight stronger opponents using their own strength" Pyrrha blushing while explaining her idea, as she knew how the training would be.

"Really? We can still train? Let's go!"

Pyrrha was oblivious for the reasons that brought upon Jaune his happiness. As such, she understood (hoped) that he actually liked training with her that much.

"Okay" she said "let's start".

* * *

"I could marry this pillow right now" Jaune said while hugging his pillow tired.

Only he and Ren were in their room right now. Jaune was laying down in bed and Ren was sitting in his.

"I see" the boy in green replied without paying attention.

"Oh yeah" Jaune continued "i found your locker. It was in a lake in the Emerald Forest".

"Good" Ren's voice was monotone.

"I was afraid i wouldn't be able to train, but Pyrrha taught me handless combat, like judo".

"Good work, Jaune".

Jaune remembered his training. Some times Pyrrha threw him in the ground and got on top of him while he was immobilized. He liked that more than he should, and sometimes refused to give up due to that.

"Do you think i should stop training with her tomorrow?" Jaune asked sad.

Ren didn't reply. The boy was looking at his own long hair.

...

"Ren?" Jaune sit on his bed "you okay, man?"

"What do you think of my hair, Jaune?"

Jaune was surprised by the sudden question.

"Err... Well... I think it's cool..."

"Really?!" Ren was surprised by that answer "do you think i look cute this way, or that i should get a haircut?"

...

"Err" Jaune was confused by the sudden situation "what?"

"Maybe i should... But i don't know... I like my hair long..."

"Ren, you okay?!" Jaune asked him, worried "you seem off after you returned from Vale today".

Ren mentally waked up due to Jaune.

"Err... Yes. No. Gah!" Ren tried concentrating "you see... Did you ever feel that strange thing when you look like weaker than you should and there comes that humiliation of an innocent girl being way manly than you?"

Jaune remembered when Ruby showed him Crescent Rose for the first time.

"I know how you feel..."

"Really? How did you get over it?" Ren inquired, curious and worried.

Jaune concentrated before saying the truth:

"The thing is... I didn't get over it. But you know? Since i started training with Pyrrha... And the incident two weeks ago, i think i don't care anymore... I mean... Each of us has something we are good at".

Ren listened every word from Jaune.

"I see..."

"But you know, Ren?" Jaune laid down again "i think you shouldn't worry too much about it. I mean... It's not like that makes you less of what you are..."

"You know, Jaune?" Ren finally found his answer.

"What?"

"I guess i should start training more too..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Competition Moon**

**Chapter 3: be afraid of the water**

"... All students are needed to come".

Yang put he scroll in her pocket. What was displayed was a message from Goodwitch regarding the disappearance of the lockers and how the school would act in response.

"Should we wake them up?" Ruby asked.

Yang smiled, but also felt sorry for them. For some odd reason Blake and Weiss only had come to their room by 2:00 and were sleeping like rocks.

Ruby was already holding her whistle.

"Well..." Yang answered "the message says that all students have to go, so... Wake the sleeping beauties up".

"Got it!"

* * *

Team JNPR was one of the many teams filling the hall while Goodwitch was explaining about the situation.

Due to the specialized school treatment Ren had already recovered from all his wounds. And due to a good night sleep Jaune had already recovered from his training with Pyrrha.

The number of people was enough to surprise the leader.

"Didn't seem like there were many teams during initiation".

Pyrrha smiled at him and answered:

"They aren't all first year students".

"Oh yeah!" Jaune remembered "we will stay four years here, right?"

Pyrrha nodded.

Soon the girl noticed team RWBY coming in their direction.

"Zombies!" Nora pointed at them.

"Nora" Ren called " why would you-"

Ren's eyes widened, just as Jaune's and Pyrrha's too.

Ruby and Yang were fine. The sisters were smiling and almost releasing rays of happiness and mischief. Weiss and Blake, on the other hand, seemed to be about to faint at any moment, with big bags under their red eyes.

"What happened?!" Pyrrha asked worried.

"You see..." Ruby replied "since nothing we did was working, we needed to use cold water on them".

"What?" Nora didn't understand.

"Didn't... Find... My locker..." Weiss replied looking as if she was about to fall to the ground "do i look really bad?"

"Err..." Jaune felt his honest answer would kill him.

"You seem... Fine" Pyrrha lied with an awkward face.

"I don't know what to answer" said Ren while covering Nora's mouth.

Yang chuckled. At that moment Blake and Weiss gave her a look filled with killing intent. The blonde girl tried to escape their bloodlust:

"Soooo... Did they find out who caused the lockers' incident?"

"Well..." Jaune wasn't paying attention to Goodwitch.

Pyrrha, who developed a strive to get back her weapons for personal reasons however, was and answered:

"Apparently, a malfunction happened. All of the lockers are rocket propelled for custom locations, but some short circuit triggered their function and sent them flying at random".

Both teams turned their attention to Goodwitch while she continued talking:

"Just as the primary source of the incident remains unclear, so does the location of most lockers..."

"Ah!"

"Team CRDL must be at fault!"

"C'mon!"

"It's sabotage!"

Most students were displeased.

Ruby, while lost her locker, wasn't in the same mood of other students; as she had let go of Crescent Rose when she was sent flying two days ago it wasn't a problem finding her [it (the scythe)] again. However, looking at the left...

"You two okay?" The red hooded girl asked.

Blake and Weiss seemed to be angrier than most of the rest, and their appearances only made it worse.

Glynda continued her speech:

"However, staff members were dispatched to find them. As such, we believe everything will be back at it's place in a span of two days..."

More students expressed their concern out loud. Goodwitch proceeded:

"Calm down everyone, we are doing everything at our power too..."

However, the students didn't stop complaining and were getting louder.

Yang turned to the rest:

"Wow, they seem pretty angry..."

"Easy for you to say" Weiss replied impatient "you got your weapons back".

"Well, yeah... But i crashed in Vale to get 'em. What about you? Why do you want it so desperately?"

"Well..." Weiss tried to conceal her intentions "i have... Personal matters to attend and need them back as soon as possible..."

At such answer Yang only deduced Weiss was concerning herself with Competition Moon.

"They are getting louder" Jaune started covering his ears "i didn't think everyone would also be so worried".

The commotion continued until a youngster dressed in a long red coat entered the hall:

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting, everyone!"

"Oh, not him again..." Weiss muttered.

"You know him?" Jaune asked.

Ruby was the one who answered:

"He is Nero, from team MDNS (madness)".

"We have a team called 'Team Madness'?" He asked surprised.

"Yes" Pyrrha responded "they are third year students with high skill. Rumor has it that Nero managed to slay a Deathstalker alone".

The audience of students revealed their displeasure with Nero's appearance by booing and ordering him to get away.

"Why does everybody hates him?" Jaune asked.

"He kind of has a god complex" Yang replied.

"Yeah" Ruby agreed "team MDNS even has a cult following them around and Nero is known for having performed exorcisms".

Blake was surprised by Ruby being so well informed about something that wasn't a weapon:

"How do you know all of this?"

"Well..." Ruby scratched the back of her head "they give cookies along with their pamphlets..."

'Of course' Blake thought while smiling.

Despite receiving such a response from the audience, Nero continued:

"I said stop! Listen, everyone! All of the lockers possess it's own battery that can be tracked down as a GPS!"

"What?"

"Is he saying the truth?"

"Does that mean that he..."

"Exactly!" Nero continued talking as soon as the students' reaction changed "due to my semblance, i managed to locate all of the lockers with your individual names. Now, prepare as i, the messenger of god, shall-"

Nero's words didn't continue, however. Before he could finish talking a student shouted "get the scroll!" and blasts of fire, electricity, water and the varied semblance of different students were shot against him.

Just after that all of the students jumped straight to battle against each other for the scroll of the mad cultist.

"Wow..." Yang didn't know if she should be worrying or laughing with the battle unfolding in front of her "they sure are desperate. Don't you think, Blake? Blake?!

As Yang turned to see her friend, Blake was gone. By looking at the front she saw the ninja fighting in the horde of the students for the scroll.

"That is very weird" Ruby realized while looking at people going crazy "and i always thought she was the most cool-headed of our team. Well, i guess that position is yours now, Weiss... Weiss?!"

"I need Myrtenaster!"

Weiss had jumped into the fight and was punching and kicking her way to find Nero in the middle of chaos.

"Well, that happened..." Ruby said while being surprised.

Jaune was even more surprised by the red blur that was making it's way through the fight.

"Even Pyrrha is there... And... Nora? Nora too?!"

"She wanted to enter the confusion" Ren answered.

"I don't think this will end soon" Jaune said by looking at the battle. Students already had blown some holes in the walls and roof "want to go?" He asked Ren.

"Where?" Ren asked back.

"I found your locker yesterday, remember? We find it, get it back then hope for this to be over" the blonde answered.

Ren was originally against that idea. But soon remembered he also needed to train after what he saw from Nora and Yang. Taking a stroll with Jaune alone meant trouble, but that would still count as a challenge.

"Okay. Let's go".

Jaune and Ren started to distance themselves from the chaos, but Yang grabbed Jaune's shoulder:

"Where are you two going leaving two cute girls in the middle of a war?"

"Err... You see..." Jaune tried making excuses, but his brain seemed to freeze. He needed to talk to Ren alone.

Ren understood Jaune's reasons and said:

"We have to discuss man stuff alone. From man to man".

"Man stuff?" Ruby remembered Ren said something about 'man stuff' before and pondered about it.

* * *

**Inside Ruby's mind:**

Jaune was talking to Ren alone.

"So, want to try new weapons, play soccer or talk about cute girls?"

"Sure" Ren agreed.

* * *

Ruby observed them getting away and muttered:

"I wanted to talk about weapons too..."

"You still have me, sis!" Yang hugged her sister.

"Get away!" Ruby escaped her grip.

"Kay" Yang stopped teasing her. After looking at the confusion again and noticing that it wouldn't stop any sooner she asked: "what do we do now? We already have our weapons. Want to try finding your locker?"

"I dunno... Maybe we should wait for Blake and Weiss..."

"Err... Ruby" Yang pointed at the stage.

The place where Goodwitch was had crashed down and the teacher had fainted near one of the walls. By analyzing the position Yang deduced Glynda was ready to intervene, but some missed shot had targeted her.

"This can take a while..." The girl in red muttered.

* * *

"So... Let me get the straight" the blonde said while walking between the woods with his friend "girls believe there is this 'man stuff'? And they... Like... Don't question about it at all?"

"Seems so" Ren replied "still, what did you want to talk about?"

Jaune expected no less from the person that developed an excuse for letting both of them go alone without raising suspicions.

"Well... I kind of... Well, i don't like to speed things up... But, i just... Y'know?"

Ren understood the vague words.

"I still haven't talked to Pyrrha if it's what you wanted to know. I planned to do so yesterday, but i kind of... Noticed i had personal matters to... It isn't really important..."

"You sure, man? Want to talk about it?"

"No" What Ren wanted was to remove his troubles "anyway, i'll talk to Pyrrha today. But still, how did you find my locker?"

"Well..." Jaune scratched the back of his head "i was trying to find mine actually... But them i was attacked by grimm... And things happened... And more things happened... And i found yours in the lake. Well, i think it's yours... Had your number in it".

"I see..."

Both Ren and Jaune stopped.

"You felt that?" Jaune asked.

Ren nodded. Both of them felt their aura indicating danger. The sensation of being observed without actually seeing anything. Battle was about to follow them. Such thing was what both wanted: to hone their abilities.

However... Fighting unarmed was still a problem. And also, there was no limit to the number of encounters they could find, so it was dangerous to waste strength early.

"Ren" Jaune called "i know i am the leader and all, but i'm trying to take what others think in consideration for the best solutions. Since we are alone here, i prefer to think a leader is something unneeded for two people who understand each other. So, i don't want my opinion to affect your judgment and...

"I am ready to fight if you are" the boy in green responded in battle stance.

Jaune smiled just like Ren.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

**Meanwhile, in Beacon Academy's main hall:**

Only a small portion of students where left standing. The rest however, didn't fall from battling; they where fluctuating due to Glynda's power.

The witch was ready to give her opinion and decide a punishment for the students when Ozpin arrived.

"I see you are quite eager to pursue your goals..."

The man slowly walked toward the scroll. On it's side was Nero, defeated since before the fight began.

"The divine light never loses... To unfocused... Chaos..." He mumbled while sleeping.

The headmaster picked up his scroll and connected it the school's data network. On the least damaged wall appeared a map including the school and town with numbers scattered in it.

The students where silent. Not because of Ozpin's presence, but Glynda's power that stopped all of their actions. They where only silent observers.

"It seems those numbers indicate the specific locker location of each student. Staff members shall be sent to retrieve them, but..." The headmaster calmly gazed at all of the destruction "should you want it, i suppose i can give permission for you to retrieve them today. Classes are cancelled".

Glynda initially wanted to disagree, but coped with his decision and released the students. They soon went running in their separate ways.

"That went better than i expected" Yang stated and then looked at the map "Ruby, the rest of your stuff must be near where your locker exploded two days ago. I will be going now".

Ruby watched her sister distancing herself:

"Where are you going?"

"I just think one friend of ours will be needing help soon".

Yang photographed the map and confirmed the number; the location of Weiss' locker was near a rumored dragon's nest.

* * *

"Wow, Ren. That was amazing!" Jaune and Ren had already found the lake. But of course they battled monsters in the way. Unarmed combat was harder than usual, but Jaune was impressed. The last beowolf they fought had it's head exploded by Ren "how did you do that?"

"I used my aura to power up my attack" he responded "you didn't know how to do this?"

"Well... No" Jaune answered.

"Hum..." Ren scratched his chin "i could swear you knew how to do this... In battle, never you felt before your attack being stronger than it should?"

"Actually, yes!" Jaune remembered the incident of two weeks in the past "some times it felt my sword was sharper and longer than usual".

"That was your aura strengthening your attacks. You must have been using it instinctively".

"Sweet!"

'But still' Ren thought. 'Either he has natural talent or high reserves to fight nine ursas without knowing what he was doing...'

"Anyway..." Ren looked at the clear blue water of the lame "my locker is in there?"

"Yes" Jaune replied "it's actually just in front of us. I think that if we manage to pull it we may be able to let it float and retrieve it".

"Good" Ren was ready to jump in the water but them felt danger beyond his aura could sense. He turned to Jaune "err... Jaune. Once we are in prepare yourself for any danger".

"You feel something?"

"Not exactly... I just feel something might happen".

"Ok" Jaune agreed "ready, buddy?"

Ren nodded:

"Let's go".

And both warriors jumped in the water.

* * *

"Yes!" Blake managed to find and open her locker in the woods. Now she regained Gambol Shroud.

She still needed, however, to transport it back to school. But that could wait. Since she photographed the map too she could find Jaune's and help the boy retrieve his.

"What are you doing?"

Blake turned, surprised.

"Yang?!" She corrected her tone "Yang? What are you doing here?"

"Well... I thought either you or Weiss would need help, seeing you were so desperate back there. Wanna talk about it?"

"Ye- i mean... No. I... Don't actually want to talk about it..."

"You sure?"

"Yes".

Yang tried to discover her reasons, but couldn't figure out. 'Oh well... Maybe i can snatch some info from Weiss'.

"Okay then" Yang started to walk away "good luck in whatever you were doing".

"Thanks, Yang".

* * *

Jaune and Ren managed together to free the locker and grabbed it while floating back to the surface.

"Gah!" Jaune filled his chest with air "mission accomplished".

'Now must be the time' Ren tought. He opened the locker quickly, took Storm Flower and closed it before letting any water in.

"Why did you do that?" Jaune asked. At that moment,

from the water some sort of explosion happened, sending Ren to the air and Jaune away from the coast.

Ren adjusted his position and landed on the ground preparing his bladed guns. The new enemy was partially seem: a fin about three meters long that was slashing the water.

'Where is he?' Ren tried locating his leader and noticed he was still in water, with the fin coming in his direction!

"Jaune!"

Ren could only see the jaws of the creature closing as the fish forced itself out of the water to eat it's prey. Jaune was no longer in his vision.

Words to warn the leader were unneeded if he was eaten. Only one thing was left to do and Ren ran back to the water.

* * *

Yang finally got the mountain in her view.

What happened to Blake and Weiss was something she would kill to know. Blake had never been so violent nor Weiss so stubborn.

Even those two should know that 1- fighting a bunch of hunters in training to get a tiny scroll in the middle of chaos was almost impossible and 2- going to the Emerald Forest alone could kill you.

"Really, i expected such things from me, not them" Yang admitted and then scratched the back of her head "i guess i can't advert them about danger anymore..."

"Grwwwooooaaaaaahhh!"

"What the?!"

Yang looked up. High in the mountains a black dragon got in her view. Some glyphs and blue shots of energy followed.

"Guess it's my time to go..."

* * *

**Jaune's view:**

"Jaune!"

The blonde warrior heard his friend calling his name and realized the danger. The jaws appeared out of nowhere and the giant fish was about to eat him.

Jaune screamed. He was surprised, but his body acted instinctively for the combat:

He kicked the lower jaw with both of his feet and pushed the upper one with both of his hands as the fish raised.

The boy escaped just in time and fell in the water. Vision was blurred, but he saw the fish diving and coming at his direction.

**"FOCUS!"**

That word appeared on his mind and he took over his fear. Danger existed and fear was needed to battle, but he couldn't afford being stopped by it.

Since the boy couldn't swim faster than the creature he just made sure to be a little higher and kicked in the front.

His foot hit the left eye of the creature, making it lose it's focus. Passing against Jaune, with the mouth too low to eat the boy.

Just like that, he grabbed the fin pulled it against the creature.

Just like a horse the creature reacted and he was brought back to the surface.

"Gah!" The boy finally breathed.

Before he could do anything, the fish suddenly changed it's course back to the coast.

* * *

Ren's view:

Just as the giant fish appeared on the surface he shot it multiple times to acquire it's attention.

Afterwards he shot his locker three times to adjust it's position and jumped on it as if it was a surfboard. The boy kicked the controls (hoping it would work) and it activated the turbo inside, making he go at full speed against the fish.

* * *

**Heretic note: Reeeeed liiiiiike roooooses! Fills my head with dreams and fiiiiinds me...**

* * *

"The eyes!" He heard Jaune shouting.

Ren released a barrage of shots at the creature's eyes and jumped over when he got too close to it.

"Catch!" He threw one of his guns at Jaune and he grabbed it.

The locker impacted against the fish and both of them carved the blades of the guns at the grimm's skin, holding themselves to it.

Ren held his sole gun with both hands and applied his aura as he continuously pulled and released the trigger against the skin of the head.

"Grrrwwwooooaaaahhh!"

The blinded grimm tried to swim away, but soon was killed by the energy bullets. Due to the inertia his body continued, shifting the water to earth and abruptly diminishing the speed, making both Jaune and Ren hit the ground sided to each other.

Both of them breathed heavily until Jaune muttered:

"Well done... Man... That... I mean... You... Were amazing..."

"... We..."

Ren gave his brief reply and extended his hand. Both of the boys traded a high-five.

Ren's locker soon crashed in the small space between their heads, but they were too tired to be bothered after killing a giant killing fish.

"What do we do now?" Jaune asked.

Ren thought about a few seconds and soon realized he had no idea of what to do.

"I... Guess we can... Sell the fish's skin in Vale after class?"

Jaune sit on the earth.

"There are people who buy this stuff?"

Ren sit too.

"Surprisingly, yes. Come, i have some tools in my locker. We can stuff the skin in it while carrying it back".

"Sure" Jaune agreed "just... Five more minutes..." He laid down again "or ten..."

* * *

Nora, Weiss and Yang looked as they escaped the dragon in the woods.

"Why did we run?" Nora asked.

"Because" Yang answered "one of us is in no shape to fight, nor in her right mind!"

"Hmph!" Weiss averted her gaze.

"Really, Weiss" Yang put her fingers forward and started counting "you left for hours yesterday, came back only at 2:00, jumped in the chaos between students to TAKE PART of it, went to Emerald Forest alone without thinking twice and started a fight against a dragon!" Flames came out of Yang's fingers when she ended her argument "i don't think our entire team would be able to fight that thing. If Nora didn't appear we would be over!"

"Fine! I understand!" The ice princess replied angry. She didn't get much sleep and couldn't bare such discussion "look, no one asked your help, nor your help" she pointed at Nora "why are you even here?"

"I came because Ren's locker was in the forest, but lost myself" Nora replied without caring for Weiss' anger.

"And i came because i was worried" Yang replied "but now i think that i shouldn't have even bothered" the blonde started to walk away "good luck finding where your locker crashed after the dragon's attack alone".

"Fine! I can easily find it alone! I am just fine on my own!"

Weiss turned around and noticed she was in fact alone. Yang walked away and Nora disappeared.

* * *

Blake was returning to beacon swiftly when she suddenly noticed the two male members of team JNPR passing by and hid herself.

Jaune and Ren dropped the locker at the same time in the forest and both sit down tired.

"Ren... I think... We should call backup..."

Ren nodded breathing heavily:

"Who?"

"Nora is pretty strong..."

Ren recalled the events of yesterday.

"Indeed she is... But... I would rather not call her..."

"Ah... Ah..." Jaune was also breathing heavily "got it..."

"How about Pyrrha?" The boy in green asked.

"I'd rather not bother her... I already have her train me, i would prefer not calling her..."

"Okay..."

Blake observed both of them 'come on! I am right here. Call for my help, Jaune...'

"Uh, i know!" Jaune snapped his fingers "how about we call someone from team RWBY?"

'YES!' Blake thought.

"Like Yang?" Jaune asked.

'Why Yang?' Blake pondered with envy 'come to think of it... He also suggested Nora... Does that mean that he prefers strong women?'

Recalling the events of two weeks ago, Blake started to think that she may have been a nuisance to the knight while he risked his life. 'Yeah... Maybe someone strong would actually help fighting side by side...'

"I... Prefer not..." Ren answered.

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"Well... Things happened yesterday..."

"She got angry at you?"

"No".

"You at her?"

"No".

"... Wanna talk about it?"

"Well... Maybe later..."

"Okay..." Jaune scratched his chin "Yang is a no... Oh! How about Weiss?"

Ren looked at Jaune worried. The boy got the message:

"Yeah, she would probably yell at us... Then Blake?"

'YES!' The hidden girl thought.

At that moment her scroll fell from her pocket. When the girl was about to pick it up she saw her reflected image and noticed that... She wasn't in really good appearance due to so little sleep.

She also realized that if anyone called her the scroll would ring, revealing she was hiding.

'Oh no...' She crossed her fingers 'don't call me! Don't call me! Please!'

"Well... I think she would agree..." Ren answered "she is quiet... But i think she is a good person.

"Yeah, Blake is a great person! She helped me a lot two weeks ago, man" Jaune agreed.

Blake herself was between happiness and fear after hearing such words. Two cute boys saying good things about her (Jaune in particular) was the cause of happiness and the red in her face. That however looked like was about to cause her demise should they choose to call her.

"But i don't think we can just call her out of nowhere" said Jaune.

"I agree... We do talk to her..."

"But i don't think we can just ask her help like that" Jaune completed his phrase "and i am also uncomfortable in calling her out the blue just for that".

Ren nodded and got up. Jaune followed him.

Blake took that chance and ran away before they could notice her.

Jaune continued talking:

"There's still Ruby" he grabbed the locker.

Ren smiled when he grabbed the front part and looked at Jaune. The blonde laughed and said:

"Okay, i was kidding".

* * *

Ruby finished welding the pieces and repairing her locker.

"Done" she took off the mask "now i just need to return these tools to professor Port".

"Almost there!" She heard Jaune's voice.

As she turned around both Ren and Jaune where putting a locker in a wall.

"Guys, about classes..."

"No worries" Jaune gave her a thumbs up "we got five minutes before professor Oobleck classes start".

"... They were cancelled" Ruby completed her phrase.

"What?!"

"Yeah..."

Ruby explained everything.

"And that's all that happened..." Ruby started working on her scroll "here, i sent both of you the map".

"Sweet" Jaune checked it "sooo not sweet".

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Mine landed in Vale" He showed both Ruby and Ren it.

"Oohh. I know this place" said Ruby.

"It's the scrapyard" Ren noticed "near the merchant".

"Yeah... But well... You see... The problem is..."

"You still can't stand flying?" Nora asked.

"Yes, Nor-" Jaune turned around jumped back "where did you come from?!"

Nora's response was just a giggle. Ren smiled:

"Well... I guess we should go".

"Want to come too, Ruby?" Jaune asked.

"I can't, sorry" Ruby apologized "Yang said that one of our teammates would need help, and both Blake and Weiss where acting strange, so i will wait to confirm if they are good".

"Got it" Jaune nodded "maybe next time then".

* * *

Jaune was walking dizzily with Ren and Nora.

The orange haired girl asked:

"Wow, Jaune. You can kill nine ursas but you can't take flying?"

"Five and a half" he corrected her "and it's just that... It's a common problem" Jaune looked at his scroll "okay, i will be going now".

"You sure?" Nora asked.

"Yeah... I will find you guys later... Maybe i will ask for help. But i'd rather got alone".

"Okay, bye Jaune".

Nora saw him disappearing from his view and turned to Ren:

"He won't find his locker".

Ren nodded:

"Come, we have to find the merchant".

"Okay!"

After a few minutes, in a shadowed alley, Ren and Nora found the merchant.

There were two torches by his side. He was wearing a tattered black trench coat and a large backpack. A purple piece of cloth covered half of his face.

"Welcome" he said in a mysterious accent "got a selection of good things in sale, stranger".

As he opened his coat, Ren and Nora could see varied dust crystals and weapons, ranging from guns to short swords.

Nora noticed a tranquilizer between the stuff and said:

"Ren, look! He has a-" Ren covered her mouth.

The boy thought it was dangerous to buy anything. He wanted to run away right at the moment, but from the rumors the merchant was trustworthy, so he decided to give it a try:

"Actually, we came to see if we could sell something".

The merchant's eyes slightly opened and Ren felt a grin while he closed his coat.

"What are ya sellin'?"

Ren took off the backpack (which he used to carry monsters spoils due to his long time with Nora) and handed the merchant.

"The fish skin".

The merchant opened the backpack.

"Ohh... I'll buy it at a high price".

The merchant gave his number and Ren's jaw almost dropped. Before he could say anything, however, Nora intervened:

"Just that? You know, it isn't easy finding, nor killing, a giant fish".

"Heh heh heh... Ya got some good eyes, stranger. I will buy it for twice the price i offered".

"Deal" Nora agreed.

The merchant handed over to Ren the money and the boy handed to him the fish skin. But, before pulling his backpack, the merchant intervened.

"Wait" he took two long (and impressive coats) and put in the backpack "this is a thanks for helping us".

Ren nodded worried and they walked away. The boy wasn't sure of what was most impressive, the fact that he sold the skin for a high price, the fact the Nora's skills for negotiation worked better than never this time, or the fact that the merchant even gave bonus.

"Throw the coats away" Nora said.

"Wh-what?" Ren got his attention back to the world "why?"

"He is from that cult. That's all there is for you to know".

"Okay..." The boy decided to not question Nora.

Ren found a nearby trash can and put the clothes in it. Just after that, the girl took one of the ammo grenades of Magnhild and threw in the trash can.

**BOOM**

"Done and done" She said and then turned to (the still surprised) Ren "what are you going to do with all that lien?"

"Well..." Ren never thought about it "half of it belong to Jaune, but there's still too much. Actually, i didn't even knew we would be able to sell it for so much".

"Oh, Ren. You never know what to do with money... Come!"

Nora happily grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"What? Where?"

"First you will take me to the Dust Amusement Park. Then to the movies!"

* * *

It took Jaune hours for him to find his locker in the scrapyard and bring it back to the academy. Who would have know there were killing machines still working in that place?!

Just as he was going to his team's room the boy found Nora eating cotton candy and humming.

"Hi, Jaune. You look terrible".

"Thanks, Nora. Terrible is actually a compliment right now".

He passed by her and opened the room, finding Ren in it.

"Hey, Ren. How did it go?"

Ren handed Jaune a gift.

"Wow! Thanks, man! But... It isn't my birthday".

"I know" he answered "it was Nora's idea. Inside it is your half of the trade" Ren started walking away "i am going to tell Pyrrha to cancel your training now".

"Okay".

Jaune closed the door and sit on his bed. Curious for what the present was, he opened it fast.

"Hah hah, very funny" he said sarcastically.

Black pajamas with rabbit's skeletons as it's pattern were the first gift. Just as he opened it further he found an absurdly quantity of lien.

"Oh my god... That's my half?!"

Jaune, however, had no idea of what to do with it, so he guarded the gift. He also felt danger, as if the good luck he received was sign of ill omen coming for him.

"Heh heh..." He laughed worried "what am i thinking? Nothing bad can really happen like that..."

* * *

Blake wasn't trying to listen their conversation.

She just felt a need to go to the roof and watch the stars... However, she listened part of their conversation and learned that Jaune cancelled his training with Pyrrha.

This information, tagged with the one she extracted yesterday, caused the girl to notice her chances were better than ever to get closer to Jaune and she ran back to team RWBY's room.

She couldn't afford to find Jaune the next day with red eyes and giant bags under her eyes.

* * *

Pyrrha listened surprised to all the things Ren said.

"He... Really wants to stop training?"

Ren ignored a feeling that some sort of hidden observer disappeared and said:

"No" Ren had to be careful. He couldn't break her feelings just like that and tried his best words "look... Jaune is just worried with Competition Moon..."

"Then he shouldn't stop training like that!" She answered.

"Look... It's not just him... It's about you. Jaune just... Can't imagine what would happen if you failed... He thinks that he is a burden to you".

"He isn't!"

"And he knows you feel that way. I am sure that once Competition Moon is over he will want to regain. But... This is... A man's thing. We don't like to drag people down".

"I... I think i understand".

'Good, Ren. Almost over' he thought.

"His reason for stopping is for you to have more time for yourself. So that you could be one of the best"

"Well..." Pyrrha finally decided what to do "i guess you are right. I will train! I will use this time that he shall sacrifice to become a better warrior!"

'Good... Mission accomplished' Ren started walking away.

"Well... I think now you want to be alone".

"What?" Pyrrha saw he going away "no! Stop!"

She grabbed his arm. Ren turned surprised:

"What... Is it?"

"Look..." Pyrrha looked at Ren in the eyes "i know that i should do this alone... But it's too soon... So, just for today, could you help me? To train? For me to become one of the best warriors?"

Ren initially planned to escape, as he was already tired from an entire day with Nora, but Pyrrha's puppy eyes were a dangerous weapon. 'How does he manage to resist?!'

"Okay" he agreed and Pyrrha smiled.

"Alright" Pyrrha took her weapons ready and prepared her fighting stance "i will use your time to the fullest. Come at me with all you have!"

Ren's expression: **(0_0)**

'I'm beginning to think coming here was a bad idea' he thought as she advanced.

* * *

**Heretic notes:**

**Okay, i admit i couldn't resist putting Resident Evil 4 references (lol).**

**Next chapter might [may(will)] take a while more, but i think i will at least introduce one member of team VLNT in it.**

**Hope you liked everything, ****Heretic out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, our teacher made us do each a story similar to a fairy tale with lessons by the end... And he said that... I have talent for writing tragedies... Strange... Anyway, here's the chapter:**

* * *

Ren's existence was surrounded by darkness. The boy started to recall the events of the day before:

"Let's go to the roller coaster" Nora called him.

But the roller coaster wasn't a normal one. It's speed was greater than normal and sometimes it went straight to air before returning to the earth.

Ren didn't take it and went right away to the trash can.

"Oooohh. You got sick easily".

"Ugh..." Ren vomited again "i don't think i'll be able to take you to the movies today, Nora".

"Okay" Nora helped Ren in getting up and to walk "let's go back to Beacon".

"Thanks, Nora".

'Yes... I remember' Ren opened his eyes, but nothing could be seem. 'I was tired already... From battle... And the abnormal roller coaster... And then...'

"Come at me with all you got!"

'I had to spar with Pyrrha...' Ren's memories ceased 'where am I right now? What happened later? Am I in coma right now?'

Light suddenly appeared, showing the headmaster of the academy

"Hello. Sorry to keep you waiting. Welcome to the world of GRIMM"

'What?' Ren thought.

"My name is OZPIN, but everyone calls me GRIMM PROFESSOR".

The professor showed a red and white sphere in his hands.

"This is what we call GRIMM" the sphere released light and a beowolf appeared by his side.

'Incredible!' Ren was fascinated.

"This world is widely inhabited by the creatures known as GRIMM. We humans live alongside with them, as playmates and workmates. And we also like to battle against others like us".

Ozpin took a sip of coffee from his mug before continuing:

"But the secrets that surround the GRIMM are everything but known. As such, i have been researching them for many years. But first things first. Are you a boy or a girl?"

'I am... I... Who am I?' He thought.

"I am a boy".

"All right, what's your name?"

"My name is Lie Ren. And i am here to become a GRIMM TRAINER" he said confidently.

* * *

"Reeeeen... Reeeeen..."

Ren slightly opened his eyes and got Nora at his sight.

"Nora? Where am I?"

"In bed" Nora had her continuous smile in her face "you seemed to be having a nightmare".

'I guess i had' he thought.

Ren tried moving, but felt pain through his body. 'Yes, i remember. I sparred with Pyrrha while already defeated from an entire crazy day'

"Ugh..." Ren sit in bed "what classes do we have today?"

"None! Today is Saturday, remember?"

'No' he answered in his mind 'seems like i have been sleeping for years...'

He took a look around the room and noticed Jaune and Pyrrha were gone.

"Where..."

"Dunno. They were gone by the time I waked up. Do you think they went on a date?"

Ren smiled.

"I highly doubt it... Let's go to the cafeteria, Nora".

* * *

In the cafeteria:

"The end shall not come as long as we continue to fight, my brothers!"

Ruby looked as Nero went out of the cafeteria followed by a large group of students.

"Finally he is gone" Weiss said.

The girl in red noticed he had been carrying colorful sweets.

"Why do you think he had that much candy?"

Blake turned the page of the book she was reading and answered without looking at Ruby's eyes:

"Those were fireworks".

"What?!" Weiss got surprised and pointed at the entrance "if those were fireworks, he shouldn't be with fireworks!"

"Too bad" Yang ate her sandwich. "Cause it seems like he got fireworks and big plans!"

Blake nodded without taking her eyes off the book.

"Why do you dislike him so much?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"Well..." Weiss started searching for he words.

"Team MDNS' cult has been causing trouble for the Schnee Dust Company" Blake answered while turning a page. "Due to them, bureaucracy raised and several mining facilities have been temporally stopped".

"How do you..." Weiss was about to ask.

Blake didn't wait for the question:

"They sell fried fish in one of the stores they possess. Along with varied food, books, and there is also a Jazz band there".

"Was this book courtesy of them too?" Asked Yang.

Blake sensed mischief and closed it, but Yang was faster due to the surprise and stole it:

"Was it? Was it?"

Blake extended her hands, but Yang managed to be way from her reach.

"Maybe. Give it back, Yang!"

"What? Another one of those 'Ninjas of Love'?" Yang opened the book and saw it's contents.

Book name: A Huntress Guide to Help Your Shining Knight.

Page 27: ... If he seems too much tired, it is a sign that he truly aspires to become a better warrior and has been training outside your help. It is not advised to go easy on him in the first day. However, in the following day(s), you may stop midway in order to...

"Oh, my..." She smiled at Blake. Who would have thought?

"Please..."

"Okay" Yang returned the book and whispered "should you need help, you can rely on me".

Blake was surprised. It wasn't teasing, Yang's voice was one that could be trusted

'Who is the lucky guy?' Yang asked herself after seeing the contents, but decided to steal such information later.

"Hey, guys!"

Team RWBY looked at the voice's direction. Nora was supporting Ren while they walked and both sit on the chairs.

"What happened to you?" Ruby asked.

Before he could answer, Nora said:

"Dust Roller Coaster!"

"Oh my..." Yang was surprised.

Blake, Weiss and Ruby also opened their eyes wide.

"The Dust Amusement Park is in Vale?!" Ruby didn't know.

"Isn't that the most dangerous toy of the Amusement Park?" Asked Weiss.

Ren nodded.

"Isn't it shot in the air spinning during the ride?" Asked Blake.

Ren nodded while feeling his stomach reenacting the events of the day before.

"And you two went alone?" Asked Yang.

"Yes!" Answered Nora.

"My, my..." Yang understood everything and winked at Nora, noticing the girl's plan.

Nora winked back and Yang turned to Blake:

"You could learn a thing or two with her".

"Wait..." Ruby noticed someone was missing. "Where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"

* * *

**In the locker room:**

"Yeah, mine fell on the scrapyard. Had a bunch of those killing robots raising from the ground".

Pyrrha was listening with all her attention to Jaune's story.

Jaune opened his locker to get his sword, but...

A metal punch came right at his face and the boy was thrown at the ground.

"Rwwwoaaahhaaa".

"What is this?!" Pyrrha got ready to fight.

From Jaune's locker came a machine made from rusted metal. As it moved, green sparks were released.

"It's one of those robots!" Jaune got up. "He must have sneaked into my locker yesterday!"

The robot had a round shield in the right arm and a sword in the left.

'Left handed...' Pyrrha noticed that whoever made that robot before sending it to the scrapyard had prepared it to fight humans, not monsters.

* * *

Team RWBY, along with Nora and Ren exited the cafeteria.

"So?" Ruby asked "what do we do now?"

"I dunno..." said Yang. "Maybe we should go to that Dust Amusement Park Nora and Ren went?"

"Yes!" Nora agreed.

'Oh god no...' Ren thought while being dragged.

"Actually..." Said Blake "I have personal matters to attend to today..."

"Yeah, me too..." Said Weiss.

'I can guess what Blake's affair is...' Yang thought while walking. 'But Weiss is busy too? Hmm...'

"Hey, guys".

All of then turned at Jaune's voice's direction. On the other side of the corridor Jaune and Pyrrha were walking while covered by soot.

"Why are you too..."

Ruby began to ask, but both of them answered:

"Killing robot".

"O... Kay..."

"So, what are you guys gonna do today?" asked the blonde.

"Well..."

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"Okay! Okay!" Jaune raises his hands worried, but then he noticed the voice wasn't directed at him.

"The window" Ren pointed at the window in the wall.

Both of the groups looked through it. Down in the grass there were four people confronting one girl.

The four men were obviously Team CRDL. The girl, however, was someone Jaune recognized. She had bandages covering her forearms, part of the hands and ankles, like some sort of karate master. She also wore a purple and golden dress and had a tattered black scarf in her neck. She had tan skin, long purple hair, long eyelashes and black eyes.

Jaune noticed Ren recognized her:

"You know her?"

He muttered:

"Before passing out..."

'What?' the blonde didn't understand.

"Once more the bullies are teaming up against only one girl" said Yang "well... It doesn't hurt to help.

"Wait" Jaune intervened "Team CRDL changed. I don't think they would do that".

Ruby didn't understand Jaune's reasons for trusting them and said:

"Jaune... I know that after you saved their leader's life they toned down a lot, but i don't think they stopped".

"Let's just look, okay?" he asked. "If they do something, i will personally go there".

The girl turned to Team CRDL:

"Four bullies against an innocent, why am i not surprised?"

Sky Lark said:

"Innocent my foot! We researched about the locker incident. The green lightning was caused by one of your teammates!"

Yang muttered:

"Who would have known? They are trying to make justice!"

Russel went forward:

"You think you guys can just go on messing around with anyone you find? You messed with the wrong team! We are gonna break your bones!"

Weiss said sarcastically:

"Who would have known? They are doing that for personal reasons..."

"They are in danger" said Ren.

The girl in purple calmly said:

"Interesting that a bunch of monkeys put their brains to work for once..."

"You are so..." Cardin got angry.

"... However, I have no relation to what happened. And you didn't think this through. Right, first years?"

"It's four against one!" Replied Sky Lark.

"I am saying" the girl continued "that you should have come with six and might have stood a chance. Battles between students are prohibited, but our confrontation will be far from a fight".

Weiss said:

"She is so arrogant!"

Blake replied:

"Takes one to notice another" .

"PWNED!" Nora pointed at her.

"Girls?" Pyrrha called them and pointed at the ground.

Down there the only one remaining standing was the girl in purple. Team CRDL members were all lying on the ground.

'She is...' Jaune looked at all of that 'that's it!'

"Ren, could we... Go over there?"

Ren looked at Jaune and nodded. As they started to walk away, Blake asked them (Jaune):

"Where are you going?"

Ren and Jaune looked at each other and simultaneously said:

"Discuss man stuff"

They walked away. Weiss muttered:

"Man stuff?"

"I think it's about weapons, soccer and girls" answered Ruby.

GIRLS. That world struck Weiss' head.

A girl in purple appeared and proved her strength. Jaune needed someone to train him.

'I won't let you!'

The ice girl walked away in search of Myrtenaster.

Ruby observed her get away angry:

"Sheesh, what happened to her?"

As she looked around, Blake was also gone.

"Sooo..." Yang looked around. Blake and Weiss were gone. She, Ruby, Pyrrha and Nora were the only ones left. "How about we go to the Dust Amusement Park?"

"Actually, I planned to-"

Pyrrha started speak, but Nora interrupted her:

"No training would ever prepare you to that park".

* * *

**At the corridor:**

Jaune said enthusiastically:

"I found someone to train me, Ren!"

Ren noticed where that was going and asked:

"Please tell me it isn't that girl..."

"Why? You saw her! She is perfect for the job".

Ren thought:

'Jaune, you don't get it. It's clear that Blake and Weiss are trying to get an opportunity to train you, and Pyrrha would kill you if she discovered you would be training with another girl. If you...'

"I mean, the worst that can happen is if she says 'no', right?"

Ren opened his mouth. He had a bad feeling, but right at that moment:

"REN!"

"Nora?!"

Nora appeared out of nowhere, grabbed his hand and ran away with him easily.

"What the..."

"Dust Amusement Park!"

'God NO!' he needed to escape from the roller coaster:

"Jaune!"

But Jaune gave him a look that said: 'no worries, i understand. Not gonna interfere while you two will have your fun alone. Just the two of you'.

"Wow" he saw Nora disappearing from his view. "That guy has skill with women".

'Now, where did she...' Jaune looked around and found the purple haired girl 'there!'

* * *

"Err... Excuse me..."

The girl turned around

"What is it?" Her voice was calm.

'Okay, Jaune. Take it easy. You are not trying to hit on her. This is for your training. No reason to be tense':

"Well... I saw how you took care of team CRDL".

The girl nothing said.

"You see... I know it's too sudden, i didn't even introduce me, but there's a situation, and Competition Moon is coming, so... Could you trai-"

"No".

The answer was so sudden that surprised Jaune.

"Why? Is it because of the..."

"My team won't be able to attend to Competition Moon, however, I have other matters to attend to. Besides, why don't you ask one of your girlfriends to help you?"

'Girlfriends?'

"Err... I don't have a girlfriend?"

The girl seemed to be surprised.

"Strange... I could swear that after i brought you guys to the infirmary, they were your girlfriends..."

'Brought us back?' Jaune pieced it together with what Ren had said and realized everything.

"Of course..." She muttered while arriving a personal conclusion.

"You are the one who saved us! Three days ago after we crashed down at the Deathstalker!"

"Yes".

"You killed both he and the Nevermore?!"

"The Nevermore died when he was stinged by the Deathstalker's tail and the Deathstalker itself sustained injuries from the crash. That was nothing".

"Please train me!" Jaune begged again.

"My answer remains 'no'. Soon you will know why".

The girl walked away.

"Ahh, c'mon" Jaune kicked the ground dejected "she was perfect..."

"Clearly, you don't know true perfection" said a cold voice.

"Gah!" Jaune backed down while surprised: "Weiss?! Where did you come from?"

"That doesn't matter, Jaune. It's clear that you are weak as you are now. So much that it's despicable for a team with Pyrrha in".

"I guess you are right..." Jaune looked down.

"So, i will be brief".

Jaune felt her piercing gaze. And saw red on her face. 'Yikes! She is angry at me!

"I shall help you train. Don't interpret this as you like. I am just doing a favor and that's it, you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Meet me in two hours at the lake in the Emerald Forest, i shall send you the map. And don't make me wait!"

"Okay!"

"Now give me your scroll number!"

Weiss passed Jaune a pen and a piece of paper and he quickly wrote his number in it.

Weiss received his number and squealed in her mind, but kept the high society tone in her voice:

"Make sure you are well prepared".

Weiss walked away.

Jaune released his breath:

"Gah... Ah... Ah... I thought I was going to die..."

'Well... At least I got someone to train me. That's a good thing, right?'

It was Weiss.

Such words pierced Jaune's mind and filled it with fear.

"Jaune".

"What?!" He backed away.

In front of him stood Blake holding a book.

"I am sorry for scaring you".

"No... Don't worry about it..."

"If you say so" Blake looked at him in the eyes "I suppose i haven't thanked you for saving me two weeks ago..."

"Well... You don't have to" Jaune awkwardly scratched the back of his head "after all, due to me you got injured, and even fought after all of your aura was out, so... I guess i should be the one thanking you".

"Yes... No... I suppose? More importantly, Jaune. I know this may offend you, but I couldn't help but notice flaws in your combat at that time".

"Really?"

"Yes... So i will be blunt, do you want to be a better warrior?"

Jaune didn't even need to hear such question:

"More than anything!"

'Wait...' he thought. 'Where is this going?'

Blake proceeded:

"Then I suppose I may help you. Meet me at the roof of the library by the night".

"The school has a library?!"

Such thing surprised him. When he looked at Blake he saw her face was red. 'Oh no, Weiss is enough for someone who wants to kill me'.

"Sorry!"

"All right..." Blake extended a pen and paper "pass me your scroll number and i will inform you of the location".

Jaune wrote his number and gave to Blake. Blake had a mental squeal and said:

"Thank you. I shall be waiting".

Blake walked away, leaving Jaune alone.

"What just happened?"

"Hahahahaha!"

"What the?!"

At the corner of the corridor, the girl with purple hair laughed loudly:

"Seems like it went well, lady killer. Hahahaha!"

"What is so funny? They offered me training while you didn't want to, there's nothing to laught about".

The girl looked at Jaune's eyes and laughed again:

"Hahahahaha! Can't believe such oblivious people exist in real life! Hahahahaha!"

"Alright, this is getting weird. What are you laughing about?" Inquired Jaune.

The girl pointed at him.

"Why don't you look at your own situation a bit, womanizer?"

"What? I got two girls with high skill to train me... During the entire day... And night..." Jaune realized the danger.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"No problem!" He said that more to himself than to the strange girl "i just have to cancel it and do that tomorrow".

"Do you really think you have spine enough to say that to one of them?"

'She has a point' Jaune thought to himself 'wait, i can ask Ren and...'

"If you use a friend to cancel it will be much worse. You don't understand woman, do you?"

"Well, excuse me! Do you know how many 'nos' i took when asking girls out? Just who are you anyway?"

The girl forced herself to cease her laughing:

"Okay. My name is Tracy Khufu. Second year, pleasure to meet you" she extended her hand.

Jaune accepted the handshake:

"First year, Jau-"

"Jaune Arc" she interrupted him.

"How do you-"

"There are rumors going around. Of a boy with three girlfriends that killed nine arch-ursas"

"Well, they are fake!" Answered Jaune.

"Are they?"

"Yes!"

"Can you release my hand now?"

Jaune noticed he was still holding her and released:

"Sorry!"

"Well..." Tracy looked at him "if you survive some days, i may be able to find someone to train you. Someone stronger than me".

Jaune got interested.

"Really?"

"Yes. Those who train with this person attain what needs to be a hero. However, the training may be too much for you".

"Wh-what do you mean?" Jaune got worried.

"Well... Last guy who took this training got mad... Then he started a cult... And now i have been sent on a mission to analyse said cult".

"No way... You got sent in a mission?"

"After some time in beacon, teams are assigned missions. Well, boy, if your urge to become a warrior, survive some days, then I may inform this person".

"Sweet! Wait! Why 'days'? I will only train with them today".

"Hahahaha" Tracy started walking away. "You clearly have much to learn".

* * *

Ren ran to the thrash can:

"Blergh!" And vomited in it.

'I can't believe they managed to drag me here again...'

"Out of the way!" Yang threw Ren at the ground and approached the trash can: "blergh! Ah... Ah... Bleworgh! Ah... Who could... Design such..."

Ruby blasted Yang with Crescent Rose.

"Waaah!"

"Blergh! You got your time... Blergh!"

Nora saw the three green people clearly sick from the trip to the amusement park.

By her side Pyrrha appeared covering her mouth and walking madly in search of a nearby trash can.

"No worries, Pyrrha. I knew something like this could happen! Actually, i prepared it for Ren, but it seems you need it more now, so..."

Pyrrha got impatient as the vomit made it's way through her throat.

"Here" Nora handed her a paper bag.

"Blergh! Thank... You... Blergh!"

"You are welcome".

Yang was lying in the ground with her hand covering her stomach.

"Can't call Jaune 'vomit boy' anymore..."

Ruby fell to the ground by her side:

"Agreed... But after this, nothing worse could exist in this park!"

Ren knew Ruby was trying to cheer everybody up, but he felt danger and started crawling away, but a rope suddenly was thrown at his waist and pulled him.

"Where..."

"The merchant" Nora answered while pulling him "come, girls. There is a horror house here".

"C'mon, Nora" Yang got up "we fight monsters. Nothing can scare us at that so called 'horror house'".

***Grin***

* * *

Weiss was walking from one side to another in front of the lake. It would still take 30 minutes for the appointed time.

'What was i thinking? Why can't i just talk to him normally? I should have just gone easy on him, say that he needed some help or something, but nooo'.

Weiss slammed her head against a tree.

'I had to verbally harass him. Of course i had to do that. Ugh... I have to get better. I have to soften up. That's right! When he comes, i will apologize, say that i am sorry. Yes! I will say that i was worried about his condition and that i wanted to help him train! And then...'

"Hey, Weiss" Called Jaune while approaching.

"Gah!" Weiss turned while surprised. "You are late!"

Weiss' mind: 'what the hell? C'mon, Weiss, you can do better than that!'

"A-actually... I am 20 minutes early".

'See, Weiss? You scared him! He even came twen-'

"Why did you arrive so early?" Weiss voice was cold.

'Again that tone, you idiot! Soften up a little!'

Jaune scratched the back of his head:

"I didn't want to make you wait..."

Weiss' mind: 'that was so sweet of you...'

"Hmph. Let's get this over with" she said.

* * *

Yang was trembling after getting out of the horror house.

Ruby fell to the ground by her side:

"Please... Please, sister... Never again... I-I beg you..."

Pyrrha went out after them:

"I-I thought... I tho-thought I was prepared... I was... I was... I was wrong..." She fell by Ruby's side.

Yang turned around. Ren and Nora also went out. The boy had a calm expression and Nora was tightly hugging him.

"Ho-how did he..."

"He fainted!" said Nora cheerfully. She poked his cheek "see?"

"I-I see..." Yang finally passed out.

* * *

Jaune had half of his body frozen against a three.

"Is that all, Jaune? I guess we should stop by now for your own good".

Jaune was getting fed up with her teasing. Every time he was pushed back she would offer to stop and his nerves weren't taking it anymore.

"As if... As if just this much would be enough!"

He hit the ice with his shield. Weiss said:

"I guess we should stop now".

Jaune hit it again and a crack formed 'here!'

He held his sword in reverse grip and pierced the ice while freeing himself:

"I said that I am not done yet!"

He advanced. Weiss formed another of her Glyphs to defend herself. But Jaune already knew what that did: it was a wall.

He jumped and used his sword to hold himself to it a pass over. The target was Weiss.

Two arcs of swords formed and clashed against one another. That was where he would lose. Jaune had defense, but Weiss' combat style revolved around precise slashes and piercings. By no means he would beat her in a confrontation of power. However, getting distance and giving time would allow her to conjure new Glyphs.

But the boy was already ready. The next slash would be at his stomach.

The rapier clashed against the shield, but Jaune wasn't thrown away. Everything was happening in seconds; the glyph was still there to support him.

He turned his shield, deflecting the rapier and the next arc was made. Aimed at her neck.

'Darn it!' He thought and released the sword. It flew and carved itself in the grass.

Myrtenaster was close to his neck now. And he was kneeling to the ground.

"What was that?" She asked.

Jaune didn't look at her in the eyes.

"I accidentally released it..."

"Hmph. As if".

She guarded Myrtenaster and offered her hand to him.

"What?" He was surprised.

"There is still much for you to learn and that can't be accomplished in one day. For the following days until Competition Moon I shall wait here to train you. And you'd better come".

Jaune smiled and accepted her hand:

"You can bet I will".

* * *

'Gotta find the library. Gotta find the library. Gotta find the library!'

Jaune was running throught the campus, but at the entrance of his dorm he found them:

"Pyrrha?! Ren?! What happened?!"

Ren and Pyrrha were lying down on the ground.

"Hehehehe" he heard an evil voice.

When he turned, he saw her:

"Nora... What did you do?!"

"Took them to the roller coaster! Then to the horror house. You should have been there, Jaune".

"What the..."

Ren grabbed his ankle. Jaune got near him.

"You okay, buddy?"

"Never... Never go to the horror house..." Ren passed out.

"Come, I will carry Ren. You, Pyrrha".

"What?!"

"I can't carry both of them at the same time. C'mon, Jaune. We have to help our team!"

'Actually' Nora thought. 'I can carry both of them. Sorry, Ren. I know you asked me to stop being a cupid, but... Well, she is asleep, so it doesn't count'.

Jaune got red as he started lifting Pyrrha.

"Nora, shouldn't we trade-"

"Less talk, more help!"

* * *

Pyrrha slightly opened her eyes.

"Ah... Ah... Ah..."

Took her some seconds to realize she was being carried by somebody. Somebody who was clearly tired.

"C'mon, Jaune! You can do better than that!"

"Not helping, Nora!"

'Jaune?!' Pyrrha blushed. She was about tremble when she decided to remain faking her sleep. She quickly took a look at Jaune's face and closed her eyes again.

"Oh no" She heard him mutter "her heart is beating fast and she's red... Don't worry, Pyrrha! I am here for you. Just hold on a little longer!"

Her heart started beating faster after hearing such concerned words. 'This is a dream'.

Pyrrha fainted again.

* * *

Blake was looking at the moon.

She planned to arrive earlier, but had to help carrying Yang and Ruby. She was, however, surprised that Nora carried Ren and Pyrrha back to the entrance of the dorm.

After such events, she arrived 20 minutes later. Obviously, Jaune must have come and then walked away.

"I am such an idiot..." She muttered.

"I am such an idiot!" She heard someone aproaching.

As she turned, she found Jaune catching his breath:

"Ah... Ah... Ah... Blake... I am sorry... Things happened... Excuses don't make up for it... Sorry for getting here late..."

'He came!' She got happy, but hid it. 'Remember the book! The book!'

"Was it important?"

"I was... Well... Yes... But still..."

"Then it doesn't matter. However, you are clearly tired. I wouldn't mind if we could rearrange it for tomorrow".

"Well, I would love to arrange a training session with you tomorrow" Jaune looked at Blake in the eyes "but if i am to become a better warrior, I would rather train with you today too".

Blake smiled 'the book worked!'

"If you say so... However, if you are so eager to become a warrior, why don't we train here together every night until Competition Moon? The results would reveal the fruits of your training by then".

Jaune smiled:

"Why not?"

* * *

Jaune got in bed feeling pain in places he never felt before.

"Ugh... I am beginning to think that was bad idea".

The boy would have never thought that training with two beauties would be so exhaustive. He wanted to talk to Ren, but...

"No... Get away... Please..."

He was clearly traumatized by whatever happened during the day.

Nora approached him and covered the boy with a blanked:

"Good night, Ren".

Jaune was about to ask what happened to her, but pain surged through his skull, as well as the rest of his body.

"Good night, Pyrrha" Nora covered the girl with a blanket.

"Hehe... So warm..."

Pyrrha (also sleeping) was still red and smiling while hugging her pillow. Jaune couldn't help but feel she was cute.

Nora approached Jaune.

"Nora?"

"Good night Jaune" and she covered the boy with another blaket.

Jaune would protest, but he was still tired, and found the help good.

"Thank you, Nora. Have a good night too..."

* * *

Tracy opened the door.

In front of her was a girl wearing a silver armor with a wolf motif. The armor covered her entire body and was highly flexible, as she was fighting three robots at the same time.

"Hello, Tracy. How was the day?"

"Some bullies managed to find out that Neo was responsible for the lockers incident, Luna".

"And?"

Tracy crossed her arms.

"Sooner or later, someone with a voice that can be taken seriously will discover it".

"Woah" the girl evaded two attacks at the same time. "I know you found something more important if you came here just to talk. What is it?"

"Someone who might be a piece of your plot".

"Ohh..." Luna's armor shone with blue markings and a silver glow as she simultaneously pierced the three robots with her arms and one leg. "Gender?"

"Male".

"He has what it takes to be a hero?"

Tracy remembered his admiration torwards her while he constantly asked for her to train him.

"His eyes told me so. His willpower is something that i shall analyze".

"Hahahaha. I knew Competition Moon would bring me people desiring strength".

* * *

**Author notes:**

**What? You guys thought I would design a team based in old horror movie creatures to make them goody two-shoes and have them become friends with the protagonists?**

**Please, this show has like... Two antagonists that can be used in a fanfic. Of course I would need more.**

**Tah-dah!**

**Now the problem is solved, lol.**

**I am thinking of altering the summary, but I have no idea of what to put, so I will let it stay like that for now.**

**Hope you liked the chapter, I expect to make this go darker later, but not for now.**

**VLNT**

**V - ?**

**L - Luna Lycaon (pretty obvious from what I based her)**

**N - ? (guess I already revealed his basis)**

**T - Tracy Khufu (the mummy, duh)**

**That's pretty much all I will reveal this time.**

**Heretic out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Competition Moon**

**Chapter 5: Ren's Escape Plan**

* * *

Sunday.

Most people would be delighted at the start of such day, no matter how early it could be, since they could just sleep more, however...

"... Argh..."

Jaune wasn't in conditions similar to others. As for the training he received from Weiss and Blake was enough to turn a Sunday into a Monday.

"Good morning, Jaune".

Jaune turned at the voice. Ren, with dark bags under his eyes, was writing some notes on bed.

"Ren? Where..."

"Pyrrha and Nora went out of the room early" he answered without looking or letting him finish.

"How do yo-"

"Didn't sleep much".

"Something that happe-"

"Horror house".

Ren continued writing. Jaune realized that his friend must have made answers and deduced every question Jaune would ask.

"Your thoughts too" said Ren.

"You are cree-"

"Creeping you out" Ren seemed to be ready for everything. "Trust me, you don't know true fear. And before you ask, yes. The horror house was scary. Way more than any monster you would find".

"Well... I got a solution to my trai-"

"The girl in purple agreed to train you?"

"Ha! You are wrong! She rejected me!" Said Jaune, proud to have a statement Ren hadn't predicted.

Ren looked at him and smiled:

"Strange that you are happy about saying that".

"Yeah... Realized too late..." Jaune pointed at Ren's note. "What are you doing?"

"I am finished".

Ren ripped the note, opened the drawer and revealed a envelope where he put the note in. The envelope had written in it: IN CASE NORA WANTS TO GO TO THE AMUSEMENT PARK.

"Seriously?" Jaune was surprised.

"I may not be good at acting in response to the imediate situation, but I made plans inside plans".

"Seriously?"

"Yes".

Ren opened the drawer. Jaune couldn't see the contents, but in it were other envelopes with different titles, such as 'IN CASE JAUNE IS CHASED BY GIRLS'.

"So" Ren asked Jaune. "How did you solve your problems?"

"Well..." Jaune concentrating while remembering the previous day. "First I didn't know what to do. But then, Weiss offered to train me, and then, Blake too. Then, they agreed to help me each day!"

"And you think this is good because..."

"Because an ice princess and shadow ninja will be helping me! By the end of the week I bet I will become a strong warrior!"

'By the end of the week' Thought Ren. 'You won't be able to remain standing at all!'

"Jaune, look... I get this feeling you may need help, so in case you need to, there is this strange merchant in town and I think that he may be able to help you soon".

"How?"

"Trust me, he has stuff for everything. For now, let's go to the cafeteria".

* * *

At the cafeteria, only Ruby and Yang were sitting and eating. There was no one else at all. Jaune and Ren sit next to them:

"What happened?" Asked the blonde boy.

Ruby answered:

"Team MDNS' cult had a crusade to do or something and most of the students went with them".

"Okay..."

Yang said:

"Except Pyrrha and Nora, they went out together to train. And Weiss and Blake, they had stuff to do".

"I see..."

Ruby ate some cookies.

"You two... Got anything to do today?"

Jaune said:

"I will be busy by most of the afternoon, so..."

Ren said:

"I think I will go to Vale. There is stuff I need to buy".

"You wouldn't know someone who sells crossbows, would you?" Asked Ruby.

Ren and Jaune looked at each other worried. Yang said:

"Long story, don't ask".

"Actually..." Ren averted his gaze "I know a guy..."

Yang looked at him:

"You are kidding, right?"

"No... I actually was going to see him anyway... I can take you there if you want".

"Awesome!" Ruby was happy.

"Wait" Yang looked at Ren "is he trustworthy?"

"I... Well..." Ren thought for a bit "sincerely? I don't know".

Yang smiled:

"Better this way. Let's go!"

* * *

**After that...**

Jaune went to the forest and encountered Weiss in front od the lake.

The girl noticed him and said in her high society tone:

"So you came..." Weiss noticed he seemed tired and asked: "You ok?"

Jaune lied:

"Yes".

* * *

**By the night...**

"Ugh..."

Jaune was walking in direction of the library with his legs trembling.

'I know I said for her to continue... But she sure could easy down a bit...' He thought.

'Mental memo: don't call Weiss snow angel...'

* * *

"Is that all?" She asked while training.

Jaune got back to his feet.

"As if! Come at me, my snow angel".

At that moment, Weiss blushed. A killing shade of red appeared as the ice formed.

"Don't call me that!"

A wave of ice that froze everything at it's path came at Jaune.

* * *

"So you came" Blake turned to the boy who approached her. "You okay?" She was concerned at his appearence.

"Yes. Let's begin".

* * *

**Team JNPR's room:**

Jaune tightly hugged his new love.

"I love you... I don't care what other people think... We can travel to another country to marry... I know it's too sudden... I know you may not be able to return my feelings, but... I will be waiting... I will fight to be with you by the end of this..."

"Took the words out of my mouth" Ren agreed.

Both of the boys were hugging their pillows while waiting until the girls of their team come back to the room. They were clearly fatiged from the different events that happened to them during the day.

"Hard day too?" Asked Jaune.

"Mhm... Pyrrha asked to spar with me".

"Wait... That isn't normally too hard".

"She asked me to help her train, not train me. It's entirely different!"

"Uh... Sorry..."

"Don't be..." Ren looked at Jaune. "Weiss and Blake?"

"Weiss and Blake".

Ren and Jaune simultaneously sigh.

'Well' thought Jaune. 'At least Pyrrha can hone her abilities now...'

* * *

**Team RWBY's room:**

Only Yang and Blake were there. Yang knew that Ruby eanted to put her new crossbow for good use and Weiss had not arrived.

"So..." Yang approached Blake. "Who is the lucky guy?"

"No one..." Blake didn't want to be teased.

"C'mon, Blake. You know I would tell you everything about my boyfriend if I had one".

"..."

"Let me guess, he is a quiet person?"

"I am not gonna talk about him to you, Yang!" Blake tried to get her away, but it didn't work.

"Does he like books?"

"I don't kn- I told you i am not going to talk!"

"No books then" Yang smiled while she extracted her information. "Is he the shining knight type?"

"Well..." Blake started considering to talk about her crush. "He wants to be..."

"Ooooh, a determined person!" Yang noticed. "Let us see... Dependable?"

"Yes!"

"Serious?"

"Uuuh... No..."

'Okay' thought Yang. 'Blake is training him... He wants to be stronger... Is dependable and isn't serious...'

"Skilled sword user?"

"Well..."

Yang started to guess who the boy was.

"Blonde".

"How is this relevant?!" Blake got worried with Yang's guesses.

"Oh. My. God. You have a crush on Jaune!"

Since Blake was still with Gabol Shroud after training Jaune, it's pretty obvious how in two minutes she managed to tie Yang upside-down out of the window.

"Okay, okay! I won't tell anybody. Gee..."

"Swear it!" Blake was still holding the rope. "I am already tired from training him, my arm is going numb!"

"I swear".

Blake pulled her back to the room. Yang fell to the ground:

" Next time, be more gentle".

"..." Blake nothing said.

"Sooo... How are things going between the two of you?"

"..."

"C'mon, Blake. I may help you if you want to talk about it. Remember that I have knowledge about boys?"

* * *

**Monday.**

Morning at team JNPR's room:

"What are you doing?" Jaune (still in bed) asked Ren.

The boy in green was writing, again, some notes:

"Devising some plans... After class, I am going to see the merchant again. Buy some stuff I may need, you know?"

"Mhm..."

"Still tired?"

Jaune nodded:

"I don't think I will be able to handle a third day..."

"Here" Ren extended a strange purple bottle to Jaune.

"What is that?"

"It's a super energizer. If you take that, you may be able to last during this day".

"Seriously?!" Jaune was surprised.

"However..." Ren continued: "the pain won't be gone, nor the fatigue".

Jaune put the bottle on top of ghe drawer and sit on the opoosite side of the bed:

"Err... Thanks for the help, but..."

"Take it anyway" Ren said. "Both of us know you will train with Weiss and Blake today again. Sooner or later you will need to use it".

"This isn't a drug, right?"

"Powered up vitamins refined with Dust. I followed an old recipe and brought the ingredients myself. I do believe it will help you last a while until you decide what to do regarding your problems.

"Okay..."

'Thanks a lot, Ren!' Thought Jaune. 'Wait a moment...'

"Won't you need some of those if Pyrrha asks you to spar with her?"

"Trust me, I already made my own plans".

* * *

Weiss was waiting in front of the lake:

'Hum... Perhaps I should go easy on him a bit. I mean, it's clear that Jaune is training without me too... And also, I have been kind of mean to him... Forcing him to come... I mean, he even came on Sunday...'

"Hello, Weiss".

"Gah!" Weiss turned while surprised. "I told you to stop doing that!"

"Sorry. Let us begin".

Weiss noted the boy's fighting stance was flawed to some point. 'Again like this. You idiot! Why don't you ask me to stop once in a while?!'

"Fine, let us begin".

* * *

Ren returned to Beacon and was running to his room, however, in the corridor...

"Ren!"

That voice... It came with danger. Ren turned to his red haired teammate:

"Hello, Pyrrha".

"Err..." Pyrrha didn't look at his eyes. "I know it's sudden, I know... That I am being importunate... But, can you please spar with me again today? I feel that I am climbing to your level..."

'You surpassed me long ago" he intervened mentally.

"I want to become a better warrior... I want this to be recognized when Competition Moon is over... So, could you? Please? Just until I figure out a way to train alone?"

Ren couldn't reject her, just as how he couldn't reject helping Jaune, Nora nor anyone who asked his help.

'Disgrace!' He thought while keeping a calm face. 'My escape plan is inside my drawer, I can't do anything now!'

"All right, Pyrrha. I shall be waiting for you".

Pyrrha hugged him:

"Thanks, Ren!" She ran away.

'She clearly has Jaune's determination' he thought to himself.

* * *

Blake was looking at the stars while waiting.

'Perhaps I should ignore what the book said for a while... I mean, clearly Jaune is giving his all, but I barely can feel any aura from him by the time our training is over... Maybe I should once in a while... I dunno, bring lunch? Make a break?'

"Hello, Blake".

"Gah!" She was surprised at his arrival. "Jaune... Jaune?!"

The boy certainly was awake, but he emitted wace of tiredness. He was breathing heavily and using his sword to support himself.

"You sure you want to continue today?" She asked concerned.

"Bring it on... If I can't hold on due to resilience... I just need to use what you taught me about evasive".

"Jaune..." Blake was both admired and worried.

* * *

**Team JNPR's room:**

"I am... Beginning to think... We have problems at our hand..." Jaune said while lying down in bed.

Ren (also clearly tired) said:

"You know... You can just... Ask them to skip a day..."

"Just as you... Did so... With Pyrrha...?"

"Touché... But... I am prepared..."

* * *

**Unknown:**

"So... Let me get this straight. The blonde scraggly boy is the new warrior you found for me?"

Tracy said:

"I am sure he doesn't do much of an impression... And he isn't the shining knight the rumors say, but I observed him today, clearly he showed signs of severe fatigue. You know what this means".

"Tenacity..." Muttered the other girl. "I think I will go-"

"No".

"Then... I will send Neo".

"You sure about this, Luna? We have to be careful around Neo, he might start another incident".

"..."

Luna nothing said. The girl only watched the moon as her orange eyes shone at it's light.

She smiled:

"This will be interesting..."

* * *

**Tuesday.**

Ren was walking through the corridors before the next lesson started. Nora was talking by his side, but he didn't pay attention to it.

The boy in green had a bad feeling. Not about Jaune nor him, but it was simply strange: the locker incident happened, but for the last days nothing occurred.

Whoever was sabotaging them could have done it again. He/She could easily get an edge while others were forced to solve their problems, but nothing happened.

All he knew was that there was a relation to a green lighting.

'It's like the calm before the storm' he thought.

Nora called him:

"Let's go, Ren. Oobleck's class is about to start".

* * *

**Much later...**

Weiss' attack sent Jaune at the ground.

"Argh".

Jaune started trying to get back up again, but failed.

Weiss put away her sword:

"Stop".

"I can... Still go on..."

"Yes, Jaune. I know. It's pretty much obvious your semblance has something to do with resilience".

"So? I can..."

"We will stop" She didn't wait him. "Today, yesterday, the first day I trained you, all of them you were weaker than you should be. And as each day passes you start to fall more and more. We will stop for now".

Jaune wanted to protest, but aside from being tired, he felt that Weiss wouldn't help him even if he asked her to continue.

"Now, come".

"But you said..."

"We are going to eat" she interrupted him while showing a picnic basket.

"Err... What?"

"Even if I stop training you, you will just continue while alone. I know you have been training without me, so I am not letting you out until I am sure you have recovered the necessary".

Weiss didn't wait for (nor wanted to hear) Jaune's answer (protests) and took out sandwiches.

"I don't know whatever you have been eating, so I made this specially for you to recover".

"Really?" Jaune was surprised "for me?"

"D-don't get the wrong idea! This is just to esure your safety. Now eat it!"

"With pleasure".

Jaune took one of the sandwiches and started eating it.

Weiss observed him. She waited some bites until he would give his opinion, but noticed he wouldn't and said:

"Clearly, you don't understand the advanced culinary arts that were taught to me. I don't blame you, however".

"Nah, it's great!" Jaune took another bite.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Is that honey in it? Wait, there is more... It's... dried tomatoes too... It's really delicious, Weiss!"

Weiss blushed at such words.

"It's just skill acquired through training. Nothing much".

"It's something to have pride over".

"You think so? You..."

"Yeah! It's almost at Ren's level!"

Weiss was delighted at his words. 'Oh, Jaune. You are so swee- REN'S LEVEL?!'

"Wh-what?" Weiss was still surprised. Her voice didn't contain anger, nor sadness.

"Yeah..." Jaune noticed she seemed angry. "No-not that's anything about it! Your cooking is good! The second best I ate here in beacon, but... You see... Ren is... Well, I have to say that even while making food it's impressive. It's like watching a magic show".

"I don't believe in you..."

"Well... Sorry... Just gonna... I am sorry..."

'A boy has better cooking skills than me?! I have learned from the finest chiefs and a quiet pink-eyed boy cooks better than me?!'

'No worries, Weiss. Just calm down... Look, that's one of the best compliments you will ever take out from that oblivious idiot. That's right! I just have to find Ren and have him teach me how to cook...'

* * *

**Much later...**

Ren had prepared himself for everything.

Now nothing would stand on his way. He was on the room, sooner or later Pyrrha would arrive and he would make his escape without neglecting her, as he had prepared his excuse.

The door opened. 'She is here!'

"Ren... Look, I am... Could you..." She was still searching for words.

'I think she got addicted to punching me around' he thought while opening his drawer:

"Oh, Pyrrha. I am very sorry, but I won't be able to spar with you tonight".

Pyrrha got sad:

"Why?"

He took out the envelope entitled 'IN CASE PYRRHA WANTS TO SPAR WITH ME' and took it's contents while secretly putting a note in his wrists.

"Have you ever heard of 'Sieg Armstrong and the Aesir'? The book series?"

"The one of Norse mythology? Revolving around demigods and the son of Thor in our time?"

"Yes" Ren revealed to her two tickets. "You see, they adapted 'The Eye Stealer' into a movie and I got these tickets. So, I planned to ask if Nora wanted to go with me".

"Oh... I err..." Pyrrha got red when she realized that Ren was about to ask Nora out.

"I am sorry, Pyrrha. Maybe another time".

"No, i mean... Good luck... Have fun... You and Nora..."

Pyrrha observed Ren walking away.

"How did Nora manage to do it?" She muttered to herself.

* * *

Yang was talking to Nora on the corridor:

"So, that strange merchant said: 'guns are not all about shootin', it's about reloadin', stranger ' and then Ruby said he was a genius or something and brought the crossbow".

Ren found both of them:

'Perfect. I only need to ask if Nora wants to go with me now. It doesn't matter if she agrees or refuses anyway'.

The boy in green said:

"Excuse me for intruding".

"Hello, Ren" Nora didn't care.

"What is it?" Asked Yang curious.

"Well" Ren scratched the back of his head. "You see, Nora. I got those two tickets to watch 'The Eye Stealer' and was thinking if you wanted to go..."

"Wait... What?" Yang was surprised at Ren. 'He is asking her out?'

Nora's eyes sparkled with happiness:

"Of course I want to go with you, Ren. Let me just get Magnhild!"

"Okay... I will be waiting at the main hall".

Yang watched both of them go away in opposite directions.

'My god... Nora actually managed to make Ren ask her out... She managed to make the second most oblivious boy in the entire school ask her out... I don't think even I would be able to do such a feat! Is she actually good at those things?'

* * *

Blake was reading at the moonlight.

Page 28: If he continues even after clearly being over his limit, it's about time to soften up. However, this is not by simply remarking another training session. You must force him to relax through your words. When such oportunity appears, use whatever comes to your mind to make your attack his heart.

"Hello, Blake".

Blake felt as if her spirit would be exorcised by the sudden surprise. As she turned to Jaune, she noticed it was clear the he was still fatigued from the previous days.

'The time has come for my strategy to change' thought the ninja.

* * *

Nora was pulling Ren through the entrance, but the boy's experience told him that he would be unable to stop her.

'There he is!' Weiss found him.

"Ren, I want to..."

"Not now, Weiss" Nora passed by Weiss while pulling him at an amazing speed. "Gonna have a date now!"

"Da-date?!" Ren was surprised at her words.

They both soon ended up away from Weiss' vision.

"What... Just... Happened? Nora managed to make Ren ask her out?!"

* * *

"Argh!" Jaune fell to the ground.

Blake put away her sword.

"I guess we should stop by now".

"Whaaaat? But I haven't even-"

"Clearly, you have been overtraining the last few days. We have to stop for now, as it shall cause more harm than good".

"But Blake, today I haven't trained enough".

Blake's voice emitted darkness:

"So... You refuse to listen to my advices?"

"No, ma'an!" Jaune got scared.

"Good... For now, you shall relax. Anything against?"

"No!"

"Good..." Blake sit to the ground. "Come".

"What?"

"I told you. You have to relax" Blake put her hands on her lap. "Rest your head here".

"Wait, what?!" Jaune got red. "There?!"

Threatening answer from Blake:

"You are refusing?"

"I will go!"

Jaune lied at the ground and restes his head on Blake's lap. The boy, however, couldn't cherish such moment due to embarassment and fear.

Blake started stroking his hair. She saw Jaune getting redder and redder and couldn't help but feel it was cute while being surprised that the book worked.

* * *

'This isn't a date, right?' Thought Ren.

'I mean... In a date, someone ask someone out, and then they go to a place to have fun or enjoy moments together. Cleary I haven't done any of that...'

Ren's recent memories flashed in front of his eyes. 'Oh, my... Wait... Wait a moment... This means that I asked Nora out? Wait! I asked Nora out to the movies?! It's impossible, i didn't plan to... Take Nora... To see Sieg Armstrong and the Aesir... The Eye Stealer...'

'Oh my god! I actually asked Nora out! But then... This means she accepted to go out of me? Nah, we are just having fun, right?'

"Gonna have a date now".

Such words flashed through his mind: 'oh my god... She herself said that we are on a date... But this means that she agreed to go on a date with me... Which means, I asked her to go on a date... Wait... Then I am on a date right now? I am on a date?'

Confused: 'Nora is on a date with me?'

Proud: 'Nora is on a date with me!'

Surprised: 'Nora is on a date with me?!'

Happy: 'Nora is on a date with me!'

'Oh my god... I am on a date right now... With Nora... Just the two of us... What am I going to do?! This is beyond my plans! I didn't plan to go on a date! Where am I going to take her in first place?! Wait, that's it! I have tickets! But.. What the... I...'

'My brain... Forgive me for... Not understanding... I don't understand anything anymore...'

Ren turned to Nora while they were walking by the night and through the street lights.

The boy soon realized she wasn't pulling him by his arm, but she was holding his hand.

'Oh my... This is... Is this how I am supposed to do stuff? No, this isn't right! Remember, you have to focus on... Disgrace! I didn't plan this out! Think, where did you get those tickets?'

* * *

Ren was talking to the merchant in the dark alley:

"... So, I need something... I mean, a way to go with a friend to a place... But the time is something that might vary in a range of days. You have anything?"

"Hmm..." The merchant put his hand on his chin and then said: "got somethin' that might interest ya".

This time he opened the right side of his coat. Unlike the left side, full of weapons, the right side had passaports, IDs, password cards and tickets for events.

"What are ya buyin'?"

Ren was still surprised at the variety of goods a single merchant was able to offer.

"What do you recommend?"

* * *

Ren's mind was about to explode: 'I trusted a shady black market merchant to arrange me tickets for a date?! What kind of idiot am I?! Not even Jaune would go Jaune that way, and he Jaunes frequently!'

'Alright... No worries... One thing at a time... Keep your calm face and speak it to her... Yeah, Nora would understand'.

"Err... Nora?"

"What is it, Ren?"

She had a smile. A beautiful and pure smile that cleansed him from any worries temporarly.

Ren mentally punched himself to regain his composure.

"Look, the tickets... I got them from that merchant. So... I don't know if they will work..."

"No worries, Ren" Nora's voice was calm and cheerful.

"Really?"

"I told you, I knew about that merchant. We can't trust the bonus, but any goods he sells works".

"Really?!"

Nora nodded:

"Let us enjoy our date".

* * *

Jaune was still red while walking through the open space of the academy that led to his dorm. The stars were shining in a way that cofuses him.

Or rather, the entire day confused him greatly. His braij apparently lost some functions after Weiss offered him food, and lost all else after Blake gave him a lap pillow.

He was just walking without thoughts.

He would continue like this forever, but he saw a shadowed being near one of the lamps.

The danger Jaune felt was unnatural, enough to pull him away from his memories.

'Darn it!' He thought. While he didn't train as much as the previous days, he was still low on aura and full of fatigue. He couldn't afford a battle.

"Jaune Arc" said the being.

He stepped forward. At that moment, a green spark was released from him and absobed by the post. Both the lamp of the post near the being and the one near Jaune changed to green light and both posts exploded.

"Argh!"

Jaune lost his conciousness.

* * *

**Heretic notes:**

**Bam bam BAM! Cliffhanger!**

**Oh wait...**

**Double cliffhanger!**

**Hehehehe. Actually, I planned to make this chapter longer, ending on another cliffhanger envolving Ren and the attacker, but I figured out that I should separate them.**

**So, what did you think people? Liked what you saw? I mean, read?**

**I think I will change the tags to put RenXNora.**

**And also, I think the summary is starting to get misleading. If anybody got any ideas about how to put it better, tell me!**

**Oh, feel free to rate and review. Really, point out mistakes as you seem fit, I make a lot of them, but i'd rather learn from my errors rather than repeat them again.**

**Have a nice day/night (depends on your fuse)**

**Heretic out!**


	6. Chapter 6 (Interlude)

**Chapter 6: Interlude**

* * *

**Night...**

* * *

**Unknown:**

Luna checked on her scroll. Two new messages had been received. The girl was surprised and worried by what had happened and turned to Tracy:

"Did you..."

"Yes" the purple-haired girl didn't even wait for the question. "He is coming".

Luna smiled awkwardly:

"Okay, sending Neo didn't go as planned... But, I think I may be able to take advantage of the situation".

Tracy was surprised at her words:

"Luna, you can't be serious. The situation has just moved from bad to worst and you still plan to-"

"But Tracy, it's the first time I have seem this happen like that. We need to-"

"No" Tracy cut her off. "Arc boy might die now and Neo... Regardless, you are not to do any further. At least not until he arrives, we shall let him decide what to do".

* * *

Ren was awkwardly walking with Nora by his side back to their room.

The boy didn't say much, nor had any words to speak and Nora's silence was killing him. Everything went on a bizarre way once they started to see the movie and he still had no idea what he was supposed to do.

The problem? Two girls. One in red with sharp claws, another in white with bladed wheels, the Malachite sisters. Troublemakers who ruined everything and forced Ren and Nora to fight at the movie theater.

Nora wasn't very happy when such things happened. In the end, the red one would certainly need new fingernails and the white one wouldn't be able to walk for a while.

Ren turned to Nora while walking.

'Just what is she thinking? Is she angry at me for some reason? Or sad? Or maybe she is... Aw, i don't know anything. How could destiny mess up my date like that? I couldn't even...'

'No, I have to say something. If something happened, at least I have to apologize. I dragged her into this, I disregarded everything, I didn't even plan the date out, I have to say something'.

They were walking by the corridor, their room was steps away.

'But just what do I say? Or do I have to say it now? Or maybe I have to leave it to tomorrow? Maybe this is one of those times silence is the best answer, but still... No, I have to say something. Think!'

Ren stopped walking. Nora turned to him curiously:

"What happened, Ren?"

"Well... You see, Nora... I am sorry..."

"For what?"

"For... All the things that happened... I understand it wasn't what you expected from me when I invited you... And also that I... No, I mean... Err, I don't even... I guess that it should have been better? No, what i am trying to say is... No, wait, i mean..."

Nora giggled. Her smile made Ren blush slightly.

"Err... What is so funny?"

"Hehehe... You don't even know what you are apologizing for, right?"

"Well..."

"Ren, you don't have to worry about it. Things happen, one after another. Some you can't just predict and they accidentally make two girls fall for an oblivious scraggly blonde boy".

"What?" Ren stopped understanding. "I don't... Understand?"

"I guess you are not supposed to understand women..."

Nora got closer to him, making him hit against the wall when he stepped back. 'She is close!' He thought.

The boy didn't have much problems with Nora. One time or another she would suddenly hug him, making him feel embarrassed, but this time just looking at her eyes was enough.

Nora blushed as her idea formed.

"I guess I should apologize too, Ren".

"F-for w-what?"

"Well... For things not going as we both planned. Nevertheless, it was awesome".

It was quick. Her superior strength pulled him easily by the collar and he felt the soft sensation of her lips on his cheek.

Nora finished the kiss and backed off one single step.

The quiet boy was frozen instantly:

"I... Wha... Sorry... Wha...t... I... It..."

The girl giggled and blushed at his reaction.

"That's my way of apologizing" she said.

"I... Err... Hum..."

At that moment, the door of team RWBY's room was forced open.

''Get her, my team!'' Shouted Ruby.

Gambol Shroud was tied to Nora's leg, followed by Crescent Rose pulling her in the belly. After that, Weiss and Yang both held the girl's arms and kidnapped her to the room:

"Noooooo!" she pouted.

"Wait!" He said.

Ren started to move, but a hand intervened. When he turned, to his side was Pyrrha. The girl had a smile that would have caused him goosebumps had him not being paralysed at the moment due tp the kiss.

"Sorry, Ren. It seems Nora forgot to tell you we would have a girl's night out. Return to your room and don't wait for us to come back".

Pyrrha slowly walked to team RWBY's room. 'Yes. You are going to tell us everything, Nora. Starting with how you managed to pierce through his obliviousness'.

Ren didn't think he would be able to do anything anymore. He walked to his room and sit on his bed.

"Today... Was a pretty weird day..."

Soon he realized he was alone. He noticed Jaune's bed was in the same way that he left on the date, meaning the boy didn't return during it.

Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha weren't with him. Ren had a bad feeling.

"Jaune... What happened?"

* * *

**Beacon's dorm entrance.**

A shadow fell from the skies and boy landed on the ground. 'Finally...'

He had his right hand on his left arm, which was bleeding.

As he started walking, he noticed two destroyed lamp posts in the ground. Soon after, he noticed a sword in white sheath.

He picked it up and drew the blade:

"This sword... It's very old..." He muttered. As he looked around, he understood everything. 'This is the place where Neo...'

As such thoughts crossed his mind, small green sparks appeared in the pieces of metal scattered on the ground. The flash briefly illuminated his glasses and eyes, which were red as blood.

He shook his head and resumed his walk with the sword in his possession.

* * *

**I know, I know. Small chapter this time.**

**Sincerely, I didn't believe I would be able to even make a small chapter. I don't have the powers to do small nor simple stuff (people say that when I am playing soccer or foreseeing the next card in blackjack) but there's a weird time for everything.**

**So... This chapter is my way of apologizing. Many things happened and will happen. I won't be able to continue writing for now, so...**

**Sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting**

**Sorry for making such a small chapter**

**Sorry for not explaining right what happened on the date (I plan to make Nora explain at the next chapter)**

**Sorry if I don't focus enough on Jaune, I just can't if I can explore other characters...**

**Sorry for leaving this at a cliffhanger**

**Sorry for the next chapter coming only after Christmas**

**As a bonus, I will reveal a bit more:**

**VLNT**

**V - ? (Dracula)**

**L - Luna Lycaon (The Werewolf)**

**N - Newton "Neo" Stein (Frankenstein's Creature and creator)**

**T - Tracy Khufu (The Mummy)**

**Anyway, hope you liked the new chapter. Criticise [criticize? (still prefer my native language)]...**

**I mean... Criticism is welcome just as your opinions.**

**Thanks for the guy who warned me that when I would put "Heretic out!" there was supposed to be a ","**

**Thanks for the follows and favs**

**Thanks for the reviews**

**Thanks for reading**

**Thanks for accompanying me this far**

**Thanks for everything**

**Have a nice christmas all of you.**

**See ya in the new year (this isn't a goodbye)**

**Heretic, out!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author notes:**

**Merry Christmas to all of you. I couldn't let you people wait until New Year, I love you guys (heterosexually).**

**Also, I know this isn't the real Christmas day, but solstice seemed like the perfect day to start this arc.**

**Now, before I put the notes here,**

**destinyTail0, thanks for your comprehension and support as well as of the rest of the readers.**

**Vieltrien, I agree that the characters must be named after colors. Truth to be told, team VLNT is following this, but it isn't as explicit as team RWBY. For example: Luna's name has the easiest reference to figure out, while Tracy's has the hardest.**

**Now, for the notes:**

**This chapter marks the start of Team VLNT Onslaught arc, which will last about three more chapters.**

**During these, the humor and romance part will be toned down a little or put in the sidelines. However, by the end, Jaune's harem will be expanded (no, not by Tracy or Luna) and Nora will approach Ren even more agressive than she already does. So, I hope you people look forward to it.**

**Now, for the chapter:**

* * *

Chapter 7: Ren's Search

* * *

**Still night...**

**Team RWBY's room:**

Nora was tied in the corner of the room while the other five girls continued to question her about the date:

"Yeah, Ren actually got super luxurious tickets to watch it. Like, the guy who received them said: 'over here, young master'. And we got to the VIP area with free meal and stuff".

Yang was very surprised at all that happened:

"I didn't know Ren made such big plans".

Nora nodded:

"I guess most oblivious boys try their best to meet up with expectations. Anyway, the date didn't go much well after that".

"Why?" Asked Blake. The girl in black was very curious as to what happened.

The atmosphere got tense in the room as Nora spoke:

"Those bitc- I mean... Two girls appeared in the VIP area. Malachite sisters or whatever and started hitting on Ren".

"Oh my god" Yang's attention grew to dangerous levels. "What happened then?"

"Well, I said that I was his girlfriend. Them they said they would be better, then he defended me" Nora blushed. "Saying that they would never reach my level. Then we fought!"

Ruby asked:

"But... At the movie theater? In the VIP area?! Oh my god... That's so cool!"

Pyrrha felt Nora's evil grin and asked worried:

"What happened... To the Malachite sisters?"

"Well..."

* * *

**In the past...**

Ren defended the two claws simultaneously with his bladed guns and shot them to the ground.

The girl had to support her body with the hands in the fall, but at that moment...

"You are mine, bitch!"

Nora came over with her hammer aimed at her fingers...

* * *

'My god...' Weiss was scared by Nora's vicious nature. "May I ask... What happened to the other one?"

Nora's cheerful answer:

"Broke her legs!"

"Of course you did..." Muttered Pyrrha.

"Then..." Blake pieced the facts. "The reason the date didn't go well is because you were sent out of the movie theater due to the fight?"

"Nope!" Answered Nora. "We kind of became heroes there, but everyone wanted to talk and interview us and stuff, so we went away".

"Wait... That's it?" Yang was unimpressed. "Just that? You didn't even kiss?!"

"Well... I did kiss him on the cheek... And I planned to kiss his lips right after and claim his heart, but them you appeared and kidnapped me".

The six girls looked at one another and simultaneously said:

"Sorry!"

Nora didn't care even one bit:

"Can you let me go now? I may still have a chance to get the kiss".

Weiss blushed:

"Don't think you are being... A little too much aggressive in the first date?"

"Oh, please! Took years for Ren to actually ask me out. Oblivious boys don't do that often! I need to use this opportunity while I still can!"

"Wait! Stop!" Blake intervened. "About that! How did you make Ren ask you out?"

All the girls were killing to know how Nora did so:

"Yeah!" Said Ruby.

"Tell us!" Said Yang.

"I am just curious! Just that!" Said Weiss.

"It's just research" said Blake.

"I just..." Pyrrha didn't even know what to say.

Nora averted her gaze and awkwardly laughed:

"Ehehe... About that... I don't know?"

All the girls fell to the ground at the same time.

"What do you mean?!" Weiss got angry.

"I seriously don't know what I did!" She answered the truth. "Well... I planned to make him take me to the movies tomorrow, but out of nowhere he came to ask me out".

Blake got closer and shook Nora's shoulders:

"There must be something you did to get his attention. Come on! Remember! Did you do anything this week? Something! Spill it!"

"Blake..." Ruby tried calling her, but received a murderous glare. "Nothing..."

"I don't know, okay?!" Nora got dizzy. "I mean... I have..."

Pyrrha knocked Blake away and started shaking Nora in her place:

"Something, Nora! You did something to get him interested in you! What did you do?!"

"I think..." Nora started to see stars. "I have been helping him out when... He got injured or needed support... I also have been forcing him to take me to date-like places..."

"Wait, that's it?" Asked Weiss. "May I ask how exactly?"

"I just have been... Asking him to take me to Dust Cafe, Dust Amusement Park... Stuff like that? Sometimes I played to have him think I forgot where such places were to let me take him..."

Pyrrha stopped shaking her.

THUD.

Nora fell to the ground and was still too dizzy to get up.

"Then... To get an oblivious boy's attention... We have to force them to take us out? And show concern if they get injured?"

"Did you injure him some of those times?" Asked Weiss.

Yang noticed she was hiding something:

"You are noting it down?!"

Weiss swiftly hid it:

"Please, as if I would do such a thing... Now, did some of those times you injure him?"

"... No... At least not on purpose..."

Blake noted it down and spoke:

"Did you also make food for him any of those times?"

"He never lets me do the food..." She started regaining her normal senses. "Last time I did it blew up... But I plan to make some..."

Pyrrha asked:

"Did you try helping him by-"

"Can someone please untie me?! I have a kiss to steal, y'know?!"

All of the girls blushed at Nora's will to get Ren.

"Okay" Ruby got closer and untied her. "You can go..."

"Yay!" She got up and ran out of the room.

Yang was still impressed when the door closed:

"She sure is eager to get him".

* * *

Nora opened the room's door.

"Aww, c'mon" she muttered.

Only Ren was already there, but the boy was calmly sleeping.

While Nora found it kind of cute, she wasn't happy at losing her opportunity. 'I needed him awake to give the good night kiss too... Team RWBY and Pyrrha, I will remember this night...'

* * *

**Unknown:**

"... Pretty please?" Pleaded Luna with puppy eyes.

"Whatever!" Responded the red-eyed boy. "Do it!"

Tracy was dumbfounded. Luna said:

"Yay!" And ran out of the room.

Tracy (still surprised) turned to him:

"Vlad, did you try thinking this through?! Luna may destroy the entire school in her crazy plans!"

Tracy wasn't exaggerating. She felt the girl could really do so. But Vlad answered:

"I will solve any problems regarding Luna and Neo later. First, I need your help".

"In what?" She asked.

"It's about the mission".

"Wasn't it over?"

"No" he closed his eyes. "It was a failure. Every information was wrong. So, I need your help to figure this out for now. Later we deal with Luna and Neo".

* * *

**Morning...**

Normally, by 9:00, classes would start. However, Team JNPR members received a different message:

TO ALL OF TEAM JNPR's MEMBERS: YOUR LEADER IS AT THE INFIRMARY. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SKIP THE FIRST AND SECOND PERIODS IN ORDER TO VISIT HIM.

"Oh my god..." Pyrrha was surprised at what she read.

The girl had been concerned with Jaune's disappearance during the night and the fact that he was still gone by the morning. But, while she expected the worst, she didn't want to believe it would be real.

Ren noticed the girl's reaction and said:

"Pyrrha, calm down..."

But the girl ran away before he could finish.

He turned to Nora and she asked:

"Should we..." He nodded. "Okay".

As soon as he opened the door, he found team RWBY running alongside Pyrrha to the infirmary. 'She is quick' he thought. Pyrrha had managed to drag an entire team in mere seconds.

'Wait! If you go... It means that I... Just the two of us...' Ren turned to the side.

Nora smiled at him and said:

"Let's go, Ren" she hugged his arm and dragged him with her.

Embarrassed, he tried talking his way out:

"Ugh... Wait just a bit, Nora... Please..."

But she didn't listen to him and they continued like that.

* * *

**Infirmary.**

Their leader was sleeping on a bed covered with a white blanket. He had bruises and a few cuts, but a calm expression.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha started crying.

The girl buried her head on Ren's chest. He didn't get embarrassed due to the serious situation.

Nora didn't get jealous, as she knew about Pyrrha's crush for Jaune. But, while still sad, the girl also took advantage of the situation and did the same as Pyrrha.

"It's okay..." He muttered. "He should be fine..."

After some time in the infirmary, a nurse came and said that from that time forward only one person could remain for the time.

While the girls agreed to keep changing turns, they were still discussing who would remain with him during the first one.

Just when he felt the discussion would become a fight, Ren intervened:

"Enough! Neither of you will remain here until you control your emotions. I shall take the first turn".

The girls obviously tried to protest, but a look at Ren's eyes and some words from Nora were enough to leave him and Jaune alone at the room.

Ren sit at the chair and asked:

"How long do you plan to fake your sleep?"

Jaune opened his eyes and took a look at Ren.

"I waked up by all that noise" his voice was weakened.

"Jaune... What happened?" Asked Ren while deeply concerned.

"Nothing much?"

"You are terrible liar".

Jaune had a small calm laugh:

"I guess I am, huh? But... No worries... I am fine now..."

"What happened?"

Jaune averted his gaze.

"I... Was attacked..."

"What?!"

"Shh!" Jaune started to whisper: "You are the calm one, act like it! I don't want many people to know, okay?"

Ren nodded and said in a low tone:

"Okay, but how did this happen?"

"I don't actually know. I... Look, you were right, Ren... I have been taking things too desperately... I barely had any aura left when that happened..."

"What exactly?"

"I... Didn't get to see him... But he said my name. He knew me. He released some sort of green spark. And then 'boom'. Next time I knew I was at this office..."

Ren started to think and piece the facts:

"Do you think it was the same person team CRDL referred the other day? That he may be linked to the locker incident?"

Jaune started to understand Ren and opened his eyes by surprise.

"Maybe... Bur still... If someone planned to sabotage other students before Competition Moon, targeting me doesn't make any sense..." Jaune got angry at himself. "Darn it! I can't believe I was so careless! And now I can't do anything!"

"Calm down".

"How?! Someone is running wild. Maybe the next one is Pyrrha, or you! I need to... If I have means to research, I can find out about it".

Ren looked at Jaune in the eyes.

"I told you to calm down, Jaune. You can't do anything in this state... Or rather, if you try to get involved, you might end up dying".

"But then-"

"Don't worry. I won't tell anybody about what happened. I will search for the culprit alone. Once I find information, I will contact you, okay?"

Jaune didn't like that idea the slightest, but he couldn't disagree with Ren and knew he would do so anyway.

"Okay, fine! But still, you sure about this? You have to this alone, Ren. Involving more people will just place them in danger, you sure you will do this?"

The boy in green calmly smiled:

"I guess this shall be my training for Competition Moon" Ren got up. "Don't worry, Jaune. I will find who did this to you and the rest of the school and bring him to justice".

Jaune smiled, but quickly got worried. He felt something bad would happen. Something big that was happening and they knew nothing. As if the few clues of what happened was leading in the opposite direction right into a pit of darkness.

When Ren was about to exit the nurse office, Jaune called him:

"Ren!"

He calmly turned:

"What?"

"Watch out for anything, okay? And... I won't wish you any luck. Unlike me, you don't need it".

Ren smiled at him:

"Sure... Oh, and watch out too, okay? I think that Nora will be the next one to keep you company".

Jaune awkwardly laughed when Ren exited the room.

* * *

Ren sent Nora in, much to the displeasure of 3 known girls and walked away.

'I have to think... Normally, I would search for the place in which the incident happened, but... Team CRDL knew about the culprit. They somehow traced him... I guess that I should find them first".

Ren checked his scroll for the hours. Soon the break between classes would happen and he would be able to talk to them.

'Wait a moment... Only team JNPR could skip classes, which means...'

Ren felt danger. By his side Glynda Goodwitch was walking in the direction of the infirmary.

'I guess they will get quite the surprise'.

Ren walked away and could have swore to have heard Ruby's cry for help.

* * *

**Break between classes.**

Ren approached quite a strange situation...

Velvet Scarlatina was desperately searching in her locker:

"C'mon, it must be here somewhere... Please, I need it!"

The one who got close to her was none other than Cardin Winchester:

"What's the matter, freak? Lost your notebook or something?"

"Cardin..." Velvet didn't look at him in the eyes.

"Hmph" Cardin took out a pencil and handed over to her. "This is for you to sign your way out of this school" he proceeded to open his own notebook and rip some pages. "And this is for you wipe your tears, weakling".

Cardin walked away from her in the direction of his own locker. Velvet looked confused to him and back to the pages and pencil he gave her.

Ren was just as confused: 'what kind of bully did he become? Either he is really dumb, or he actually wanted to help her...'

Velvet looked at the pages again and muttered:

"Thanks?"

Ren approached Cardin from behind.

"Maybe I should also give her an eraser?" Muttered the strange bully.

"Cardin?"

"Oh my god!" He turned surprised. "You think it's funny scaring people like that, pink eyes? I will show you who is the best! Just wait for the test week!"

'My god' Ren thought to himself. 'He really changed after Jaune saved him! What kind of bully proves his superiority through tests?'

"Sorry for scaring you".

"I wasn't scared! Just surprised! Now what do you want?"

"Well... I heard that you figured out who was responsible for the locker incident...

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me about it?"

Cardin froze as if he saw a ghost.

"Cardin?" Ren got a bizarre concern for him.

"The girl with silver hair... I don't even want to know what she would do to me if I told you..."

Ren didn't understand anything:

"What?"

Cardin wrote down in a square of paper and handed it over to Ren before walking away:

"Mind your own business! I am not helping another loser!"

Ren looked as Cardin walked away and then read the paper. It was the address of a store. If he remembered well, it sold books, varied food and had a jazz band in it.

'Guess I will go there after classes...'

But he stopped. Suddenly, Ren felt an abnormal danger. It was presence that was somehow displeased and could kill to feel better.

Ren turned and saw eyes that were red as blood.

* * *

Jaune was surprised.

Nora was actually very dependable. Or rather, way too dependable. It was as if the girl could predict what he was going to need and do to help him.

'No wonder Ren likes her...' He thought.

Nora was, however, still very talkative. Soon she came over and handed Jaune a basket full of apples.

"Wow".

"I know you are hungry. I would try to find something else, but I didn't have time to cook. Also, Ren always says that fruits help in the recovery".

"Thanks a lot, Nora! The hunger was already killing me".

Jaune took one of the apples and bit it.

At that moment, the girl swiftly took her scroll and took a photo of him without him noticing.

"Oh, sorry. It's Pyrrha's time. I will be going".

Jaune was still chewing the apple, but he nodded.

Nora got out of the room and encountered Pyrrha.

"How is he-"

Nora smiled at her:

"He is fine. And alone. All yours, hunt him down".

Purrha blushed.

"I wasn't thinking abou-"

But Nora pushed her into the room and closed the door.

'Now' she thought. 'It's time for my revenge for costing me Ren's lips'.

Nora took out the scroll and looked at the photo. Jaune was cutely and suggestively biting the apple. One could say he was natural at that.

The girl sent the message with 'YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO' written on it to Yang.

First step of Nora's revenge plan complete. The apple of chaos was handed to the goddess of teasing.

* * *

The boy... His age was something Ren couldn't guess.

He could be fifteen, but Ren knew he was wrong. He was as tall as Ren.

He had pale skin and black hair. He wore a long high-collared coat, black on the outside, red on the inside. He had a large black backpack on his back and wore a scapular at his left wrist.

His eye color was what creeped Ren. Those red eyes emitted and ominous feeling. But the fact that the person was wearing spectacles somehow relaxed him a little.

The boy opened his mouth to speak and Ren noticed the canine teeth were bigger than the rest:

"I guess an introduction is needed... My name is Vladimir Tepes. I am a student of the second year. You can refer to me as 'Vlad' if it's too long".

He bowed while introducing himself and then extended his hand.

Ren accepted the handshake and replied:

"Lie Ren. First year".

Vlad nodded and said:

"I suppose you would know where I can find the student named 'Jaune Arc', am I correct?"

Ren was distrustful, but kept his calm face:

"What do you want with Jaune?"

The boy with red eyes slightly smiled, as if he acquired what he was searching for.

"An apology".

"What?"

"Forgive me for the confusion" he took his hand to the back and revealed a sword in white sheath.

"Crocea Mors!" It was Jaune's sword. "How did you-"

"It is quite old, if I can say so myself. A piece of art that must be recognized" Vlad looked at Ren in the eyes. "I came here to return it to it's rightful owner".

"How did you get it?" Ren was distrustful and Vlad averted his gaze. "Your teammate... He is the one responsible for-"

"Yes" Vlad cut him off displeased. "I suppose so..."

"You do realize he may get expulsed".

Vlad had a calm response:

"I'd rather think that an accident happened".

Ren kept his calm tone, but was starting to get angry.

"An accident? My leader was wounded".

Vlad looked at Ren in the eyes:

"And you would believe at your teammates until the end. I am no different. I'd rather think that whatever happened wasn't his purpose. Still... Many things are happening at once. I came here to return the sword and apologize in his stead".

"..." Ren nothing said. His words seemed to be true, but he couldn't trust the person in his front.

"I am scarce on time" Vlad handed Ren the sword. "If I might ask, I want you to return the sword and my sincere apologies for any problems my teammate has caused".

The strange boy started walking away. Ren could have swore he saw the backpack shaking on it's own, but contained his surprise:

"Wait".

He stopped and slightly turned:

"Yes?"

"I want a name... The name of the one who did this".

His red eyes seemed to shine briefly at the demand, nevertheless, he spoke:

"I too, am researching what happened. If you are to have his name, you must promise that you shall not reveal it to anyone from school, nor turn him in by any means until his guilt, or innocence, is proved".

Ren bit his lip. The boy realized such conditions were enough to make his search harder. It was clear that Vladimir knew he had a sense of honor that wouldn't let him do it the easy way.

"Those are my conditions" he said.

Ren closed his eyes and then opened while releasing his breath:

"Very well, I promise I will comply with your terms. However, this will only apply until the next incident happens".

Tepes nodded:

"Fair enough. I will assure you, however, that there won't be any more incidents. My teammate's name is Newton Stein. Now, if you excuse me, I have important matters to attend to" he started walking away, but then he suddenly stopped: "Lie Ren, remember to deliver my apologies".

Ren observed as he walked away. The boy finally felt calmness.

"Newton Stein..." He muttered.

But just the name wasn't enough. Ren needed to find information regarding the incident. And he knew just the place, as he checked the paper Cardin Winchester handed to him.

"Jaune trusts him... So will I".

* * *

During the second period, Ren returned Crocea Mors to Jaune while speaking about his encounter. At such time, he didn't mention the name, but the address Cardin gave him.

Jaune again told Ren to remain alert if he were to proceed and both decided that it was best to go after classes.

* * *

Classes were already over and Nora was walking back to her team's room when she encountered Ren.

"Ren!" She got closer in attempt to hug him.

However, Ren easily evaded and said in a serious tone:

"Sorry, Nora. I will be busy today, tell Jaune that I am on the lead".

Nora dropped her shoulders dejected.

"Okay... I... Will wait for your return..."

* * *

After their detention was over, team RWBY was walking back to it's room.

Yang was already bored with their discussion. Blake and Weiss were trying to decide the time each of them would visit Jaune.

Ruby tried to intervene:

"Girls, the school treatment will cease tomorrow. There's no need to have such concern".

But she stopped when she received murderous glares from both of them.

Weiss though: 'that's right, you dolt! I only have today to take on this opportunity':

"You are too sloppy! You even made Pyrrha drop the soop on him!"

Blake thought: 'why do you try to stand in my way? Regardless, if the treatment completes, I won't be able to take care of him':

"What about you? I am quiet enough to not disturb him while you keep talking about how you are the only one who can do stuff!"

Yang sighed.

While Ruby still didn't get it, it was pretty clear that both Weiss and Blake were fighting over Jaune.

'Guess it's time to use this...' Yang took out her scroll and smiled.

"Girls. I hope it isn't for this that you want to keep him company".

Both Blake and Weiss blushed when they saw the image and understood what Yang was implying.

* * *

Ren could have swore he heard an explosion coming from school when he departed.

Regardless, he already had arrived in Vale and was following the address toward the store.

At the front, there were stylized glowing letters naming it:

THE SOCIETY OF THE BLACK FEATHERS.

Ren soon realized the true place where he had arrived. It was one of the stores associated with team MDNS' cult. Not only was it a book store, a fast food, a bar, a cafe, but also a club of bounty hunters and freelancers.

Ren opened the door and encountered everything he was searching for and more.

Apparently, the store was divides by glass walls. One sound proofed from the other. The lighting also varied accordingly to the place, with the food store being the most illuminated.

At the end of the corridor, there were four stairs with different signs:

1 - BAR

2 - MISSIONS

4 - RAVE

5 - GMC - GRIMM MAY CRY

Ren was still surprised with the last one. Rumors had it that the one in charge was a hybrid of human and grimm. Regardless, he decided that the first place to check was the bar.

The boy descended though the stairs and sat in one of the chairs near the bartender.

The man covered in shadows looked at him as if analyzing him while he was making drinks.

Ren put lien on the table and said:

"Tea".

The bar was actually quite quiet. The lighting was bad, but Ren theorized that was intended. A man sat near him and looked at him in the eyes.

"You are a student from beacon".

The bartender put a glass of green tea near Ren. The boy drank a bit and looked at the stranger:

"Maybe I am".

"Hmm... You wouldn't happen to know Nero, would you?"

Suddenly, all of the little noise that the bar had was silenced. This was followed by a series of murmurs.

The student was confident in his skills. He knew that he could either flee or defeat an entire bar, but knowledge wouldn't be acquired either way. As such, he needed to play safe to get information.

'If Cardin recommended, is because he managed to get what he was looking for here...' He thought.

"I don't actually know him. All I know is that his team leads this store. Am I right?"

"Yes".

Ren turned surprised, but keeping the calm face. The one who answered was the bartender and he continued:

"Do you have any animosity toward team MDNS?"

"No. I came here looking for information regarding another person. Someone who releases green electricity".

The entire bar got silenced again. A new person, a woman, sat at the right side from Ren and said:

"Oh... You search for Stein... What are you wanting? To prove he was a culprit like the last one?"

"No" his answer seemed to surprise the man, the woman and the bartender. "I will only make conclusions when I am 100% sure".

The bartender looked at the man and the woman and both walked away. He then said:

"Our society is more than happy to help someone who desires knowledge for it's rightful use. You have proved your worthy, how may I be of your service?"

* * *

**BOOM**

Nora got used to such explosions.

It wasn't because she was trying to make some food, but rather due to the conflict that was happening between Yang, Blake and Weiss.

Her guess? They wanted the photo.

The girl laughed at that while trying to cook. And soon focused on it.

'Okay, concentrate now, Nora. You can't eat the ingredients, you can't explode anything. You are trying to make food for Ren. Then maybe convince him to take you to another date... Then kiss him on the cheek... Then, on the lips... Then...'

"Nora?"

Nora dropped the pan in surprise. "Oh my god!" She turned and saw Pyrrha entering their team's room. "Pyrrha? Don't scare me like that!"

"Huh... I am sorry..."

Nora got her composure back.

"Wait... Why aren't you with Jaune?"

"Well... Time was up... I had to go" Pyrrha pointed at the table on the middle of the room with cooking utensils. "Why are you cooking here?"

"Well... I supposed I would end up blowing the cooking room again. Also, Ren's utensils are better than the ones they have".

"What?" Pyrrha started understanding. "No, I mean, why are you cooking at all?"

"Well, you see, Ren seemed pretty tense after noticing how Jaune was. So, I plan to make something for him to eat. Then, I may try another approach. I am thinking of maybe getting him to own me one, so I will say something like 'you can take me in another date', then..."

"Wait! Wait wait wait!" Pyrrha interrupted the talkative girl. "Nora... Don't you think your approaches are a bit too aggressive?"

"What do you recommend me to do then?" She asked curious.

"I don't know... Maybe just making him food, but not forcing him to take you on a date? I mean, won't it be a bit too much for him?"

"Pyrrha, I will tell you something" Nora, in one of her rare occasions, spoke seriously.

"W-what?"

"During the entire date I had yesterday it seemed to be too much for him. That's how oblivious boys are, they are awkward, cute, dependable, tenacious, handsome, concerned, beautiful, but they don't get any signs at all! But still, it also means that they barely refuse. Initially, Ren never thought that when we went to places together we were going on dates. So, unless we, women, force them, they won't make any move at all!"

* * *

**Heretic note: remember that, technically, Pyrrha was the one that forced Ren to go out with Nora.**

* * *

"..." Pyrrha was impressed at Nora. One of the only occasions she spoke seriously and she displayed knowledge far ahead than the one she had on oblivious boys and how to deal with them. As such, she said: "may I cook too? And also, can you teach me about how to deal with oblivious boys?"

Nora had a cheerful smile:

"Let's get 'em!"

* * *

**Back at the bar...**

"Why do you want to help me now?" Ren asked the bartender.

"We are but followers. And you boy, are just like Nero... Soon you will find out why, but it's a honor for me to witness the story of our leader repeating..." The bartender seemed to be moved to tears and about to cry. "It's so beautiful..."

Ren couldn't help but feel that the situation was getting weird. He decided that discussing about team MDNS wouldn't do any good for now and held down his curiosity. Then, he asked about what was on his mind:

"So, can you tell me more about him? About Newton Stein?"

"Sure" the bartender put another glass of tea in front of Ren.

"I didn't..."

"Don't worry, this one is on the house. Now, about Stein..."

"Yes" Ren nodded. "What can you tell me about him?"

The shadows that covered the bartender seemed to have gone darker:

"Newton Stein... He is a second year student of your academy. He comes from an overseas unknown kingdom".

"What? Unknown?!"

"Yes... According to the rumors, the kingdom was hidden in a forest in an island. However, one night the creatures of grimm attacked and most of it was destroyed. The boy was one of the few survivors. His weapon is also a mystery, seems to be based in ancient technology, which surpasses our everyday one".

"This story..." Ren couldn't help but feel something strange to it. "It's false, isn't it? The kingdom wasn't destroyed by grimm".

The bartender nodded:

"Yes... Nero had the same conclusion as yours, boy. Regardless, Stein's semblance is related to electricity. The boy has a natural gift at tampering with machines".

"Where... Where can I find him? Not once did I see him in my school. I don't even know how he looks like".

"He has scars".

"What?"

"Also, he frequently visits the scrapyard. If you go now, chances are high that you shall find him. I am sorry, but those are all the information I will be able to handle you".

Ren thought for a while the information he acquired before saying:

"Thanks. I will put your help to good use".

"Wait" the bartender stopped Ren before he got up and handed him over a ticket.

"What is..."

"There is a book store upstairs. Give them this ticket and maybe you will be able to understand more of what is happening around you".

Ren received the ticket and nodded:

"Once again, thank you".

The boy walked away.

A girl who was sitting on a table covered by the shadows observed the boy in green walk away.

She got up and stepped into the light, revealing herself.

Orange eyes filled with mischief. The girl wore a long sleeved blue hooded jacket and a black shirt with a silver crescent moon in it. She also had fingerless gloves and orange shorts. He most remarkable trait? The hair. Shoulder-length and silver as the moon itself.

She smiled, revealing her canines were slighter bigger than the rest of the teeth, and approached the bartender.

The girl slammed lien on the table and said:

"Milkshake".

The bartender handed her over a glass of it and asked:

"What do you think, Miss Lycaon?"

The girl drank all of the milkshake at once:

"I think that he is perfect. A shining knight wounded and his dear friend seeking for a way to help or avenge him... You did a good job too".

The girl slammed her fist on the table:

"Gimme another hound!"

"You think you can handle it?" Asked the bartender concerned.

"I am a grown woman! I can handle anything!"

* * *

**Back to Beacon...**

Team JNPR's room

Nora and Pyrrha were sitting with their backs supporting each other and breathing heavily.

"Nora... I didn't know... That making advanced cuisine was so hard..."

"I agree... Ren and Jaune are... Really modest..."

"And Ren... He makes it look so easy when he throws the ingredients and slices and mix them in the air! We..." Pyrrha face palmed. "We should have asked them to teach us once..."

Nora smiled tired:

"Trust me... I tried... But Ren is really stubborn... He never lets me touch his utensils..."

"And Jaune always said that it was nothing..."

Pyrrha and Nora at the same time:

"Boys..."

Suddenly, the portable microwave ringed. This time no smoke came out.

"Pyrrha..." Nora called her with her eyes sparkling. "Do you think that..."

"It can't be..."

Pyrrha approached the microwave and Nora fell to the ground without her support, but the girl quickly got up and followed.

Pyrrha opened the microwave and was almost moved to tears:

"It's more beautiful than I ever imagined..."

"And the smell... It's perfect..."

Both girls were smiling dreamily, but they soon returned to reality. Pyrrha said:

"We are only going to test one".

"Half by half" Nora agreed.

* * *

Ren was walking through the scraps. Piles and piles of metal and junk covered his vision, even the sky seemed to have gone metallic.

What he received at the bookstore? A present. It was clearly a book, but he decided not to open it for now. At the moment he was still trying to know whatever he could.

All that he knew about Stein was the he was shrouded in mystery. However, the fact the he was one of the few survivors of an incident might have caused a trauma that led to his recent attacks.

Nevertheless, such information was pointless for now.

The only one he could rely on was regarding his skills. As far as he knew, Newton must be good at remaining stealthy, his semblance must have something to do with electricity, and his weapon was powerful.

The last info wasn't much of an help actually, as students from Beacon possessed the most dangerous weapons ever designed (with one blonde exception).

Suddenly, the boy in green heard the distinct sound of electricity and started running in it's direction.

* * *

Ren hid behind a pile of scraps and observed the boy.

He had ''X'' shaped pupils and electric green eyes, shining as if they were neon. He was wearing a black shirt with a green circuit-like pattern, jeans, black boots and fingerless gloves. The hair was messy and medium-length, being mostly black, but a portion of the right was white.

How Ren knew he was the one he was searching for? Scars.

The arms and neck of the boy were covered by scars. His face had a diagonal one across it. Also, the boy was constantly emitting green electricity while tampering with the metal.

"C'mon..." Muttered Stein. "I can fix it... It has to work..."

Ren tried spying on what he was doing, but at that moment...

Green sparks were emitted from the machine, startling Newton. He backed off as the robot rose and attempted to strike him, but the boy was faster, took his sword and decapitated the robot.

The sword was mainly black, with the extremities being green.

"Darn it!" Shouted Newton as he punched the ground. "Why doesn't it work anymore?! Who could have destroyed most of my creations?!"

'Wait' Ren started piecing the facts. Jaune had mentioned something about fighting killing robots before. 'This guy... He was the one who made them?!'

Suddenly the boy stopped. And Ren swiftly hid:

"Who is there? I know that there's someone here!" Newton got up. "I will find you..."

But before he could do anything, a scroll ringed. To Ren's surprise, it was not his, but Newton's.

"What is it, Tracy? What? I am busy right now... No! Why do I have to? You know more than anyone that... Ugh... Fine, I will go... Okay, I will... Seriously, I am coming... Goodbye, Tracy".

More electricity was released from him when he put the scroll in his pocket and started running away.

Ren waited until he was out of his sight to approach whatever he was tampering.

It was a machine. One of the many robots scattered across the ground. When Ren touched it, planning to analyze the design, but then...

**VRWWWOOOOOONN**

All of them released green sparks as they were simultaneously activated.

Ren controlled his emotions and took out StormFlower. His new objective was to take one of the robots back to Beacon in order to fully analyze it and it's purpose. As such, he needed to...

"Come at me and fight" he said calmly.

* * *

Pyrrha and Nora were both dreamily tasting the food they made.

The red head said:

"It's... So delicious..."

"So hard... To resist more..."

"You know, Nora? I think your idea was pretty good".

"I have my moments..."

Pyrrha noticed that Nora was about to grab another one and slapped her hand:

"Ouch!"

"Resist it, Nora. Resist your instincts!"

"I can't! They are so delicious... So beautiful..."

Pyrrha grabbed Nora's shoulders and looked at her in the eyes:

"You have to resist it, Nora! For Ren!"

Nora (dizzy and dazed): "For... Ren... Okay, thanks, Pyrrha. I will resist!"

* * *

Luna Lycaon observed the fight while sitting on a pile of junk, at a destroyed chair.

She felt like some sort of emperor, looking at a gladiator fighting in an arena.

The boy in green was able to hold on very well as he alternated between long and close ranged combats, but the opponents kept coming and attacking from the junk. It was clear that he was surprised.

'He has to be' thought the girl. 'After all, not even Neo knows that I repaired the other robots. Too bad he only found the broken ones, but oh well...'

How the robots kept appearing out of nowhere and attacking Ren? The girl was activating and coordinating them, using her scroll as a mean to control the commands and shape up her semblance.

The girl of silver hair had control over sound waves. She was often selected in tracking missions due to that, as she could be a living sonar, but most people didn't know her powers weren't only limited to that.

'C'mon, boy in green... Show me what you got. Let us see your power... Ohh! He knows kung fu! Cool..."

After some more minutes...

'Hmm... He is doing very well... Well, I need him to at least have some power left, but... Too bad, I wanted to watch more. Guess I will have to release him now'.

The girl sent all of the other robots away, in order to hid them, and also left only three fighting Ren.

'Let this be your gift for impressing me, and...'

Luna had intercepted the message Neo had received and knew exactly where he was going. 'Sorry, Neo. You'll have to be one of my pawns too...'

* * *

Ren destroyed two of the robots and carefully shot the third one in the head, as he didn't want to have one of them too damaged.

He approached the last robot and started to disassemble the pieces in order to take them with him in the backpack back to Beacon.

As soon as he has finished, he received a call of an unidentifiable person:

"Who is it?"

The answer came in a serious girl voice:

"I advise you to go back to Beacon as soon as possible, young warrior. The villain is on it's tracks for the next strike".

"What?!" The call was finished. "What do you mean?! Villain... Next strike? Wait... ! She meant Stein?!"

Ren got his backpack and started running full speed back to beacon.

* * *

"Yang? Is that you?" Asked Ruby.

"Oh! Hey, sis!" Replied Yang.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well... It's a long story..."

Yang was currently tied upside down by rope to the roof while at the same time frozen against the wall outside beacon. Ruby was looking at her through the window.

"Blake and Weiss?"

"So worth it" she said while smiling. "Can you help me? Just... Got to the roof to pull the rope, okay?"

"Sure... But what happened?"

Yang mischievously smiled:

"I will tell you later".

* * *

Ren had already arrived in Beacon and was still running when he received a new message.

Without stopping, he risked a glance at his scroll. The message read:

RUN, LITTLE WARRIOR. THY OPPONENT SEEKS TO ELIMINATE WHAT CONDUCTS THE SOUL OF EACH HUNTER.

Ren understood the words. He couldn't trust whoever was sending him that information, but he needed to check for if the worst would happen.

The message was meaning that Newton planned to eliminate all the weapons. At that time, all of the students that were in Beacon had their weapons stored in the lockers.

If Newton planned to repeat his past strike, he would have learned from his mistakes. This time, the lockers wouldn't be found. All of the students would lose their weapons.

'How did this...'

Ren was still surprised at all the events that were happening. He took his scroll and sent a message to Jaune: THE MEMBER OF VLAD'S TEAM MIGHT STRIKE AGAIN. I SHALL KEEP AN EYE ON HIM. WATCH OUT.

Ren heard the sound of electricity and the lamps the illuminated the corridor briefly shone green before returning to normal.

'This is bad!'

The boy in green dashed and opened the locker's room door:

"Stop right there!"

In the middle of the room only one person was standing. This one turned, surprise across his face, and at that moment...

**BUZZZT**

A green lightning was emitted from his chest in Ren's direction. The boy quickly took his guns and applied his aura on them at the same time he shot and blocked the lightning with his blades.

Newton evaded the shots and his anger was obvious. Ren said while pointing his guns:

"Drop your weapon and come with me to the office".

Stein looked at him in the eyes and answered:

"I won't. I did nothing wrong".

"You are the one responsible for the locker incident last week. You are the reason my leader was sent to the infirmary. You just shot a lightning at me".

Ren's opponent gritted his teeth, but nothing said. Ren continued:

"I promised Vlad that I wouldn't turn you in until the evidences proved you guilty. But I can't keep my eyes off you any longer. Either you come with me by your own will, or I shall take you by force".

Newton was surprised, but them he reversed to anger:

"Curses... Vlad again..." He looked Ren in the eyes: "I cannot refuse a warrior's determination... However, you made a grave mistake by choosing to fight after being obviously weakened".

He took his black and green sword out of it's mechanical sheath and pointed at Ren:

"Come at me if you desire to prove me guilty!"

* * *

Jaune received Ren's message.

"No..." He muttered. "Ren, you can't fight that guy!"

* * *

Three shots were sent at Neo's direction.

He blocked the first two with his sword and evaded the third one while closing the distance.

"Rwwooaaah!"

An arc was described. Ren blocked the blade with both his guns and prepared to shoot at his opponent's face, but at that moment...

Neo's blade stretched and twisted itself, blocking both of Ren's shots. Neo twisted the blade again and slashed at Ren's direction.

He backed down, but the blade's range grew again and he was forced to shoot it to evade.

'His weapon' he thought. 'It's... A whip-sword...'

The bladed whip reverted to it's normal size and sword form and Neo gazed at Ren:

"You are good... That Winchester boy didn't manage to block this slash".

Ren nothing said. In battle, his calm demeanor kicked in. Responding was one way to break his concentration.

Neo stepped at the ground and green sparks were released as he proceeded to move forward.

* * *

Luna was outside when she saw the green flashes from the windows of the locker room during the sunset.

The girl had prepared everything. No sound would reach the ears of anyone and no one would interfere at that fight, her team included.

'Sorry, Neo. Sorry, green warrior. It's nothing personal. I know, however, that Vlad will believe in you until the end, so... I need to... Take care of him'.

* * *

"Rwwoaaah!"

"Raaaah!"

Both Ren and Neo moved forward. Shots, slashes and blasts of electricity were mixed in the attacks one was throwing at another.

At that moment...

Neo's thoughts: 'This is...'

Ren's thoughts: 'My golden chance!'

A shot full of aura, a green blast shining deadly. Both were sent simultaneously, both hit at the same time, both warriors were sent back.

"Argh!" Neo let go of his sword.

"Ugh!" Ren fell to his knee.

Neo had shocked the muscles of Ren's left leg, while the boy in green shot at his opponent's right arm. A delay was brought upon the battle.

Neo held his right arm with his left one, blood was dripping. He was releasing sparks as if he was a broken machine:

"Clever..." He murmured through his teeth.

'So were you' responded Ren mentally.

Ren couldn't feel his leg anymore. Now he was forced to fight at a single spot. But the only exit was at his back, if Neo planned to escape from a window, he would be signing his name guilty.

"... But not enough" murmured his opponent.

Ren's eyes opened wide.

Neo took his weapon with his left arm and displayed skill as the same level of his right one. 'Dexterity at both hands' noticed Ren.

* * *

Vlad looked up at the windows. Flashes were appearing constantly, but not a single sound could have been heard.

The red-eyed boy turned to the silver-haired hooded girl:

"Luna... What did you do?"

"I am sorry, Vlad" she revealed a smile. "I just can't let you interfere. I was thinking... I will need your help tomorrow... With or without your concern".

Luna approached and Vlad backed off a single step. The bespectacled boy felt an unnatural fear.

* * *

The black and green whip-sword was twisting itself in the air.

Neo was approaching and was prepared to take his victory.

Ren was expecting to fight even wounded. Either he would win, or his enemy would have to fight for his victory.

The first slash came and Ren evaded to the left. The sword was releasing electricity, so backing away was dangerous.

The second slash came from the left while the blade was still cutting the air. Ren blocked it with both his guns and aura, stopping the electricity from coming at him.

The third slash was coming. This one was impossible to escape. Ren realized it as Neo prepared to take his victory.

But he was forgetting one thing: a weapon was still an extension bound to the hunter!

Ren shot at his arm, in an attempt to burn his muscles and stop his attack.

But...

Neo's face was twisted in pain, his muscles in both arms were damaged, but the sword was still coming, as if it was making the arm move on it's own.

'No!' Ren remembered what the bartender had said. That his weapon was of ancient origin. Could it be that such weapon reverted the way of a fight? A hunter being the extension of the sword and not the opposite?

"Aaargh!" Ren groaned in pain as the attack across his chest slashed him and the electricity robbed him of his consciousness.

Ren was knocked at the ground and Neo released his sword when he fell to his knees.

"Ah... Ah... Ah..."

The sparks were still being released from his body, but were weaker. He could feel enormous pain in both his arms and he could barely move them any longer.

"You... Fought well... If you were at your normal conditions... This may have ended in a draw..."

The wounded winner looked around and his gaze fell at his sword, which was carved into the ground.

He muttered in pain:

"Vlad again..."

* * *

**Outside...**

The girl with silver hair observed that the fight was already over.

"Hehehe... Tomorrow shall be a marvelous day... Let me see, shining knight, how you will avenge your friend".

* * *

**Author notes:**

**Okay, I may have done this a bit too serious...**

**But again, this story is humor/romance and shall remain humor/romance. This is just... My way of speeding up the plot. Rest assured, my dear readers, when Team VLNT Onslaught arc is over this will return to how it was in the previous chapters.**

**I know that someone will ask:**

**"But, Heretic, you nearly killed off Ren! How do you plan to make this continue humor/romance?"**

**My answer:**

**"No worries, I planned this from the very beginning. What Ren received at the book store is tied to Luna's motives. That aside, Ren in hospital means Nora will be there for him".**

**Anyway, I hope you liked the new chapter, with the introduction of Good Bully Cardin and Aggressive Date Nora.**

**Your criticism is well received, see you in the next year!**

**Heretic, out!**


	8. Chapter 8: Attack of the Valiants

**Ok, I know you think that, but it isn't true. Neo isn't a faunus. However, I admit that his animal motif is an electric eel.**

**Yeah, team VLNT isn't only based on horror movie creatures. I mean, RWBY includes fairy tale references and flowers, so I couldn't just restrict them to one simple motif.**

**All four of them have an animal, horror movie creature, occupation in a rpg and overall appearance motif in addition to the horror movie one. However, they aren't put in their names.**

**The animal motif becomes apparent through their ancient technology when they engage in combat.**

**For example:**

**Newton Stein: animal: electric eel. Horror movie creature: Frankenstein (and it's creator). Occupation in rpg: blacksmith. Appearance: cyborg.**

**While in combat, i chose his weapon to be a whip-sword, named Positron Hunter, to resemble an electric eel.**

**.**

**Now, for the sake of the experience, I advise you to open this link and prepare this OST. When the time comes, I shall ask you to play the OST from youtube during the chapter:**

**watch?v=pJvBa-s_SDA**

**Only play it when I state to. There will be a note indicating when you have to do so.**

**.**

**Anyway, this chapter will show that Team VLNT is capable of making Team CRDL look like heroes.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Attack of the Valiants

* * *

Night...

Unknown.

Ren opened his eyes.

The moonlight was entering through the windows and illuminated the white bed where he was lying at

'Where... Am...' The boy couldn't finish his thought.

"Ugh..."

Pain filled his chest. He tried moving his hand, but his movements weren't precise, it was as if something was interfering with his commands.

Putting his hand on his chest, he felt the bandages that were covering it.

"This is..."

His memories were unlocked. He remembered the previous night, the humiliating defeat he had and the words that kept repeating:

"... You made a grave mistake by choosing to fight after being obviously weakened..."

His body was still too tired. Soon Ren was taken to the world of dreams again.

* * *

Tracy Khufu observed as the boy fainted again.

The purple-haired girl turned to Luna:

"Do you see what you did? Do you have any idea of what your actions have caused?"

Luna averted her gaze.

"Well... Hey, it wasn't so bad. You even cured him".

Tracy pointed at an unconscious Ren.

"He is practically an innocent bystander! Aside from that, Neo's injuries aren't any better. And now I can't send him to the infirmary without risking his expulsion!"

"Yes, this is bad... I still need Neo".

"Luna..." Tracy's voice was threatening, but she turned to the other person in the room: "you are still letting her proceed with this madness, Vlad?"

Vlad looked at Tracy in the eyes:

"Trust me, she will receive punishment..."

"Whaaat?" Luna was scared.

"... However, now all that there is left for us is to continue. If we carry such madness until the end, we may still be able to make up for the past".

"You..." Tracy didn't believe in his words. "You can't be serious, Vlad. Did you see what happened and is happening? This is... It is just..."

"Complete nonsense" Vlad finished Tracy's phrase.

"Hey!" Luna was displeased.

"However" the red-eyed boy continued: "ending this now is a bad idea. We have to carry this on until the end".

The room was covered by silence for a few moments. Vlad felt Luna's happiness and turned to her:

"However, you went too far. This is the last time I am letting you use other people as you please. You lack morals and self-control".

"But-"

Luna received murderous glares from both Tracy and Vlad.

"Okay..." She muttered.

"Now" Vlad picked his scroll. "We need to track down Neo. I shall search for him. Tracy, you are to ensure Lie Ren's safety. Luna, you are forbidden to leave this room until I return".

"But I-" Luna received a serious glare from the bespectacled boy. "Okay..."

* * *

Morning.

Jaune was released from the infirmary. Dust treatments were better than most, but it only made him get even more scared.

As soon as he returned, he would receive speeches from Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha (this one again) about how careless he was and danger.

If he was new to all of this, he would dare to believe they had a crush on him, but the boy knew that wasn't true.

As soon as Jaune opened the door, he felt that his fears would come true. There were Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha on his front.

* * *

Weiss' view:

Weiss had been waiting since early for Jaune to be released. The girl was trying to follow Nora's advices, but didn't know exactly what to do.

She had been thinking of releasing some of her emotions and say how worried she was, them attempt to hug him or something.

She blushed at such idea.

However, there was one problem...

Three to be exact: Pyrrha, Blake and Weiss' own cold personality that would be triggered instinctively.

No problem. She just needed to calm down. Pyrrha was his team member, her presence didn't imply any danger to her plans. And Blake? She was just saved by him. There was no way she could be interested in him.

* * *

Pyrrha's view:

The fact that Ren didn't come during the night made her worried, but not as much as Nora.

Pyrrha cared for him as a friend. A good one, that is. The boy agreed to help her train even tough that might have caused Nora to misunderstand.

Also, she needed to see how Nora and Ren would react once he would have eaten her food, so that the red head could do the same with Jaune.

Now she had nothing and was waiting with Weiss and Blake in front of the infirmary. She could only think of how Nora would react. Yes, she needed to hug him as soon as he opened the door.

But that was sounding a bit too extreme. She thought about apologizing first or something. But a hug? That was too subtle. She couldn't just hug him out of the blue.

'But' she thought. 'Nora managed to make Ren ask her out. Then...' Pyrrha started to blush. 'Maybe I should just hug him right away...'

'No, I can't do that! I have to play it safe! He isn't an ursa, but a wild rabbit. I can't go for the kill, I have to approach slowly'.

* * *

The door was opened.

Jaune had an awkward face:

"Ugh... Hey girls?" He was clearly scared.

Before Weiss and Pyrrha could do anything, however, Blake advanced and went for the kill.

The girl didn't think an aggressive approach was the best idea, but Nora managed to make Ren ask her out, so...

"Jaune I was so worried about you!" the girl latched herself onto the boy and tightly hugged him.

"Wh-wh-what?" Jaune froze as he felt her body heat.

Weiss' thoughts: 'Blake... You... Are crossing... In thin ice...'

Pyrrha's thoughts: 'no! I was the one supposed to... Blake... I advise you... To let go of him...'

* * *

Ruby and Yang were both watching all as they approached.

Ruby asked:

"So, let me get this straight: Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha like Jaune?"

Yang nodded:

"That's pretty much it. But I don't think they know about each other. Man, he is so screwed".

Ruby tried containing her smile:

"Not cool, Yang".

Yang grinned:

"Maybe. Who cares? This is so funny".

Ruby nodded and opened her mouth in the direction of the girls and Jaune.

"Excuse me" said a male voice.

Ruby and Yang (both surprised) turned around.

"Oh my god..." Muttered Ruby.

A pale boy with red eyes passed by them carrying a clearly wounded Ren in his arms.

"Who are you?" Yang inquired. "What happened to Ren?!"

The boy risked a glance:

"An unfortunate accident. I shall answer your questions later. For now, I have to take him to the infirmary".

As the boy passed by, he saw the confusion going ahead between three girls and one blonde boy. 'That's him... Jaune Arc... Luna's new guinea pig...'

"Excuse me" said Vlad.

The three girls turned while angry. Jaune turned while surprised and then he went to serious worry when he noticed Ren on the boy's arms.

Jaune in a very weak voice:

"Wh-what... What happened to him?"

* * *

Vladimir left Ren on the infirmary bed. He was attacked with many questions, but all he said was:

"Outside".

When he got out, however...

Yang grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pushed him against the wall while holding him above the ground:

"Speak. What happened to our friend?"

Vlad's expression continued calm:

"Release me, then I will speak".

"Why do you think I would do that?"

Yang could feel a strange intimidating presence from the composed boy. His voice was still calm:

"You can try to pry information from me by any means, first year. However, I shall not speak until we are standing in the same conditions. My pride won't be swallowed for the sake of someone who obeys to violence before reason".

Ruby touched Yang's shoulder and she reluctantly let go of the boy.

He fell standing and composed and muttered:

"Much better..."

"What happened to Ren?!" Jaune inquired.

He felt the boy's stare penetrating him:

"The same that happened to you. No... I should say that he didn't fall until the fight was over".

Ruby understood the vague words and turned her attention to Jaune while surprised:

"You were attacked?! Why didn't you tell us?"

"I... Uh..."

Jaune didn't know what to say. But Vlad was the one who answered:

"Because a leader can't afford to concern his team with his own mysery".

"You still haven't said anything" noticed Blake.

"Yes..." Vlad agreed. "I haven't. The situation is more complicated than you think and I ask you to forgive me. I shall explain all later. Meet me at the entrance of the Forever Fall in three hours".

"Wait!" Weiss stopped him by standing on his way. " Who do you think you are by coming and rising mysteries?"

"Someone who isn't a heir of explicit enslavers" he answered calmly.

"How dare you!" Weiss got angry.

He ignored her and turned his attention to Jaune:

"Three hours. This is something between us. Bring with you anyone you want. There's more in this silly game than both of us can afford to lose".

Jaune nothing said. He only observed as the boy walked away and stopped any girl from following him.

"Who was he?" Ruby asked Jaune.

"Vladimir Tepes" answered the blonde. "Second year student. Leader of the team that includes the culprit of the locker incident".

The five girls opened their eyes wide. Pyrrha was the first to talk:

"Then he and Ren?"

"No..." Jaune had a regretful expression. "Ren was... I lied to you guys..."

Weiss was concerned:

"About what?"

"About the accident. That didn't happen. I have been attacked by someone with control over electricity..."

Weiss and Ruby looked at each other and remembered when they were sent flying due to a malfunction caused by a green lightning.

"Then..." Spoke the ice girl. "He was the one that..."

Jaune nodded while trying to hide his anger at himself.

Blake said:

"Why didn't you tell us? We are your friends, we could have..."

"I didn't want, ok?" Jaune forced himself to contain his tone. "That was... That shouldn't include anyone... I just..."

'Felt too weak to rely on somebody' were the thoughts that crossed his mind.

"Doesn't matter..."

"How?" Ruby was the one who asked. "How doesn't it matter? You are the leader of your team, Jaune! You are supposed to speak with them, not hide".

"I understand now, ok?" He felt his anger was showing and forced his tone to a calm one, but a regretful voice was one that followed: "Ren... He noticed everything... I couldn't hide the truth from him and... We agreed to let him research about all that was happening..."

* * *

Luna used her semblance and scroll simultaneously to hack nearby cameras and listen to everything.

'Hehehe... This is pretty interesting' she thought.

"... was happening... Ren found out who was the culprit and went to stop his next strike, but... Now I know that wasn't the right choice..."

* * *

The girls nothing said. They didn't want to hurt Jaune any more about his own mistakes, but Ruby knew she needed to speak:

"Did Ren tell you anything about it?"

Jaune didn't look at her in the eyes.

"He didn't tell me any names... But he discovered that the culprit had a semblance related to electricity... And a weapon of ancient technology".

"Wait, what?" Yang was surprised. She then turned to Ruby and she nodded.

Blake asked them:

"You know anything?"

Yang looked at her sister:

"Ruby".

Ruby nodded again:

"I have been researching about it the last few days, since there were robberies related to it. Weapons of ancient technology may be more unstable or put a strain in the user, but their effects surpasses ours".

Pyrrha was piecing the information together:

"Do you think that Vladimir's team was related to it?"

"No".

Jaune was the one who responded. The attention of everyone was turned to him. The blonde spoke:

"I don't know why I feel that exactly... But, Vladimir asked Ren to return my sword and apologize to me... He didn't need to do any of that. I don't think they are related. At least, not their leader".

Yang was with her arms crossed with her back against the wall:

"Then we got nothing. What do we do? Should we really go meet up with that creepy dude? I don't feel like we got anything at all left".

"Yes..." Jaune nodded. "He is the one who can tell us about all that is happening. However... I will ask Nora to keep Ren company".

Pyrrha said:

"We will have to miss some classes and I don't think Goodwitch will let us do as we please".

Blake nodded:

"We have to hide from them. For now, we split. In two hours we have to meet up out of the dorms, then we go to Forever Fall".

"I will see all of you there" Jaune was the first to walk away in silence.

* * *

Yang was walking through the corridors while receiving information from Ruby in messages about ancient technology.

'The power depends on the age and place, but most registers were lost during wars. The weapon may not be what we expect, it may not be a weapon at all. Some old...'

"Yang Xiao Long" a happy female voice called her.

Yang turned.

"Who are you?"

Yang found herself gazing at a silver-haired blue hooded girl.

"My name is Luna Lycaon. Second year student. I suppose that you might help me".

* * *

Two hours passed sooner than Jaune expected and in one more half of hour they arrived at Forever Fall.

"Ruby" Jaune called her. "Where is Yang?"

"I can't call her. Maybe she got caught by Goodwitch?"

"We have to continue anyway" said Blake.

Soon they found two people standing in fromt of the red forest. The first one was obviously Vladimir Tepes. The other was girl with black eyes and long eyelashes, dressed most in purple and gold.

Jaune couldn't believe when he say her.

"Tracy? Is that you?"

"No, I am the ghost that haunts this forest" she answered sarcastically, but then she smiled: "good to see you again, Jaune".

Weiss saw Jaune and the girl smile to each other and a strange feeling inside:

"You know her?" Her voice was somehow threatening.

Jaune laughed awkwardly:

"Well... You see... Tracy somehow... Well she gave me tips about something... And that I should... Well not like that..."

Tracy smiled at the boy's cheap excuses and said:

"He said that I went too far when dealing with team CRDL. That I shouldn't be so violent. No worries, girls. I am not his ex".

Vladimir was standing at the shadow of the three, as if sunlight was something that would burn him. His glasses were darker than normal and he seemed confused.

That was the first time Jaune saw Vladimir with a confused expression. He seemed more human reacting like that to Tracy's words:

"I see... This meeting between the two of you... Included some... Anomalous events... Regardless, I err... I think we should get started".

Team RWBY and Jaune and Pyrrha nodded, but Tracy shook her head:

"There is still one of ours missing. We shoul-"

"Wait for me!" Shouted a girl voice.

Said girl appeared out of nowhere and jumped over Jaune and his company. Landing at Vlad's right side:

"Ok, now we can begin" she said.

Pyrrha turned to Jaune in a cold voice:

"Another girl you have met?"

'Yikes' he thought.

"Oh, hello" the girl with silver hair bowed down. "My name is Luna Lycaon. Second year. It is a pleasure to meet the team that slayed the Nevermore, the famous Pyrrha Nikos, and nine arch-ursa slayer Jaune Arc".

"Five and a half" corrected Jaune.

Luna nodded:

"Yeah, I knew about it... Too bad..."

Vladimir poked her, getting her attention and said:

"Act how you are supposed to for once".

"Okay..."

Vladimir turned to Jaune and his company with his calm voice:

"My friends and I have already introduced ourselves. For the sake of trust and equality, I desire you would do the same".

"Jaune Arc, not much of what the rumors say".

"I am Ruby".

"Weiss".

"Pyrrha Nikos".

"Blake".

After their introduction was over, Vladimir spoke:

"You may call me 'Vlad' if my long name poses a problem for future conversations. I am the leader and these are my teammates, we compose most of the team known as 'Team VLNT'."

"Cool name" muttered Ruby.

Jaune nodded

"While I agree, we aren't here for introductions. I am here to know what happened to Ren. And you are supposed to give me answers".

"I-" Vlad started to talk.

Tracy intervened with her hand and looked at Jaune in the eyes:

"Do not disrespect Vlad, Jaunny-boy. While I do like your attitude, I won't think twice before dealing anyone who mistreats my leader".

Jaune felt a strange fear. It was as if Tracy respected Vlad above normal grounds. Not as a simple leader, nor as a lover, but something more.

"Enough" said Vlad while glaring at her, making Tracy step back. "We didn't come here to fight with each other, we came to solve our problems".

"Yeah, important stuff" said Luna cheerfully.

"Like your teammate that attacked Jaune and Ren?"

Who asked that question was Pyrrha, angry for having half of her team fall victim of something she didn't even know was happening.

"It wasn't an attack" said Luna. "Neo wouldn't attack unless he was threatened or attacked first".

"He sent me to the infirmary when I was out of aura in the middle of the night!" Responded Jaune while angry. "He wounded Ren!"

Vlad stepped on the ground. All of the students present were forced to back down due to an unknown force:

"I said enough! We didn't come here to fight, but if this continues, then we shall solve our differences as animals" Vlad glared at Jaune and company. "However, I would rather believe that we are sapient beings, who can solve our own differences by mutual understanding before the problem gets out of hand".

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Ruby spoke:

"Okay, but before we start anything, I want to know how this 'Neo' guy got his hands on ancient technology".

Vlad opened his eyes wide, demonstrating surprise. He then turned to Luna:

"How do they know about it?!"

Luna awkwardly smiled.

"Then you know about it" said Weiss smiling. "Does this mean that your teammate was really the culprit? That he is related to the recent robberies?" Her tone was a mocking one

Luna was looking at Weiss, expecting more words out of curiosity. Tracy gave her a murderous glare. Vlad looked at her in the eyes:

"Be careful with the words you choose, Schnee heiress. Disrespect towards my comrades isn't something I forgive easily, and there is more blood related to your company than what is known to the public".

"Vlad..." Tracy muttered his name.

The red-eyed boy turned his attention to Ruby:

"Neo's possession of ancient technology isn't related to any robbery. As an alibi, I have been sent on missions regarding said robberies recently and you can check the information later at the school".

Blake noticed something strange:

"Why would they send you on missions related to it?"

Vlad averted his gaze. Tracy said:

"We have no need to answer that question. We are here to solve our problems regarding Neo. And we will need your help".

Jaune said:

"Okay, you have my help to catch him. Now tell me all that happened. Tell me why my friend was attacked!"

"I don't know" said Luna while smiling. She received angry glares from everyone, her team included. "Look, I am with Neo in this. I think there was some misunderstanding".

"How?!" Asked Jaune.

Tracy answered:

"Neo barely can control his aura. He is prone to occasionally release electricity".

Pyrrha was surprised. It was already strange to find someone with his aura still locked when entering Beacon, but a second year student with no control was too much:

"How did he manage to..."

Vlad looked at her in the eyes, making her feel discomfort:

"Neo is a person different from any other. He has above average aura reserves, which is why he went so far without much focus. He also unlocked his aura on his own. However, due to the events responsible for that, I am led to believe he suffered a trauma".

Pyrrha opened her eyes wide 'someone who unlocked aura on his own?!'

Tracy nodded:

"That's why we have been believing that the incidents that were happening weren't his fault. He could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

Tracy stopped talking as Luna's scroll started beeping. The girl said she would return soon and entered the forest.

"Until two days ago" said Jaune, continuing the talk. "When he attacked me".

Tracy and Vlad remained in silence for a while. The red-eyed boy briefly closed his eyes and then opened them:

"No... I guess that it has been a while since I learned he has been plotting behind our backs... Maybe I just didn't want to believe".

Pyrrha said:

"Well... I know this might be hard on you... The betrayal, but what exactly is he planning?"

Vlad looked at her in the eyes. For the first time, her survival instincts didn't trigger. The boy said:

"We don't know yet... We only know that his plans include strong people. It isn't restricted to students, as some staff members from Beacon were included" Vlad shifted his attention to the entire group. "We need your help. As much as I don't want to admit this, our team can't fight alone. Together, we may discover what is happening and put a stop to all of this".

While Tracy was waiting for their answer, she noticed Luna was coming back from the forest. She got closer to Vlad and whispered on his ear.

"What?" He asked.

Lune whispered some more.

"WHAT?!" Vlad took her scroll. "Why didn't you tell me any sooner? We could... Oh no..."

Ruby asked:

"Is something wrong?"

Vlad showed the scroll to Tracy and she opened her eyes wide. Then, she turned to Ruby:

"Yang Xiao Long... She is your sister, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

Tracy spoke seriously:

"Contact her. NOW!"

Ruby tried to call Yang from the scroll, but she got no response. She looked at team VLNT and shook her head.

Blake felt a strange danger and asked:

"Yang... Was she one of the people targeted by Neo?"

Vlad nodded. Luna said:

"That isn't the bad part... It seems that Neo has already started his plans while we were chatting. Apparently, Ozpin and Goodwitch have gone missing too".

"What?!" Asked Weiss surprised. "He even got them?"

"Where are they?" Asked Jaune.

Tracy read the coordinates in Luna's scroll:

"Near the dragon's nest... A small island in the immense lake of the emerald forest... And the scrapyard..."

Ruby turned to her team:

"You heard them, we have to go!" She was about to run...

"Wait!" Vlad extended his hand.

It was as if a strange force pulled her back. She turned surprised and Vlad said:

"We can't march recklessly. We have to devise a plan and work together. In only one of those places there will be Neo and our team is more suited to fight him".

"So?" Jaune asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"Together we may devise the best strategies".

* * *

Dragon's Nest.

Person kidnapped: Glynda Goodwitch.

Students sent: Luna Lycaon, Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose.

Explanation: according to Ruby, Goodwitch seems to focus more on Dust based battles, a team less focused on it should be sent to deal with any means used to imprison her. Due to the potential danger of the dragon, Luna would be able to sense it, Ruby could evade it and Pyrrha should be able to strike it's vital points in long-range.

* * *

Emerald Forest Lake Island.

Person kidnapped: Professor Ozpin.

Students sent: Tracy Khufu, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna.

Explanation: little is known about Ozpin. As such, Blake's silent skills would be the best to deal with the unknown. Weiss' Glyphs offers a variety of uses against any challenge and Tracy could use her skills to find and disarm any traps before the worst.

* * *

Vale's Scrapyard.

Person kidnapped: Yang Xiao Long.

Students sent: Vladimir Tepes and Jaune Arc.

Explanation: the most probable place to find Neo. Jaune already went to the scrapyard and is familiar with it's danger. For personal reasons, both Jaune and Vlad agreed to watch and talk before acting once they find Neo and rescue Yang.

* * *

Back at the infirmary...

Ren opened his eyes and saw the sunlight illuminating his bed through the windows.

"Where... Am I..."

"Ren!"

"Nora?"

Ren (still in bed) received an affectionate hug from Nora and started blushing, but the boy had no strength left to push her away.

"Nora... Wait just..."

"I was so worried".

Suddenly, he felt pain across his chest:

"Argh!"

Nora let go of him:

"Ren, you ok?!"

* * *

Pyrrha looked at the giant mountain in front of her. It's top reached the clouds. Ruby and Luna were following her right after. The blue hooded girl was wearing a silver backpack.

"Miss Goodwitch is in there" said Pyrrha.

Ruby saw a trail circling the mountain all the way up:

"It will be a long way up..."

Luna munched some potato chips and nodded:

"May take hours... Wanna some?"

She extended the pack. Pyrrha asked:

"Flavor?"

"Bacon".

Ruby's eyes sparkled:

"Give me some!"

* * *

Blake got off the small boat they used to arrive at the island and stretched her legs before turning to Tracy:

"Didn't you say that there was a giant killing fish?"

Tracy tied the wooden boat with some simple cloth she had:

"There are dozens of them, but only one normally attacks during the day. Maybe Neo killed it or something".

Weiss cleaned the dust off her battle skirt (dress):

"Regardless, if this island is where that hooligan imprisoned Ozpin, we have to be alert".

Tracy looked at her in the eyes:

"Do not call my teammate a 'hooligan'. Understood?"

"Why? He did attack Jaune and Ren, didn't he? He caused trouble for everyone and even kidnapp-"

"This is my only warning" Tracy cut her off. "Test my patience, I dare you..."

Tracy started walking away. Weiss was about to start a discussion out of anger, but Blake touched her shoulder.

"Blake?"

"Do not lose your focus. We have to rescue Ozpin and her help is something we might need. Besides, we know nothing about Neo. Maybe this was all a big misunderstanding..."

"Yeah, right" Weiss was skeptical.

* * *

Jaune threw the bag of vomit at the trash can. Vlad neared him:

"Motion sickness is... A bit unusual in my home kingdom..."

"It is much more common here" he answered.

"I suppose we should wait a few more minutes".

"What?" Jaune was displeased. "No! We have to go right away!"

"Your boldness may lead you to reckless actions. Be aware that as a team leader, this cause a bigger impact in your friends than you might expect".

"Fine..." Jaune agreed with his point. "But... It seems you know much more. How do you-"

Vlad (without his normal calmness):

"My family... Responsibility is something we knew" Vlad's voice returned to normal: "I am not here to talk about my past... Once we are ready, we shall search for Neo".

* * *

Back at the infirmary:

Ren was sitting at the bed. Nora was cheerfully talking like always while approaching carrying a bowl of soup.

"Nora, I can feed mysel-"

Nora interrupted him:

"Nonsense! You are wounded. Now, open your mouth for me to help you during your recover".

"Err... Seriously, I don't need any-"

"It's not cool to turn down a person's help. If you continue, I will be forced to give you a kiss!"

Ren blushed:

"Alright, fine!"

Nora giggled:

"Is that how you ask for help of a sweet girl, Ren? You are being mean. As a punishment, you will get a kiss".

"Okay, okay! I am sorry! Please help me, Nora!"

Nora smiled again, this time she blushed too:

"Well, since you asked like that... As an award, I will give you a kiss".

Nora got closer. Ren tried backing away, but he was in bed.

'There is no escape!' Ren thought embarrassed.

'There is no escape!' Nora thought while going for the kill.

* * *

Jaune cut off the head of another robot.

"Over here!" Shouted Vlad.

Jaune followed the second year student through the piles and trails of junk while evading the killing robots that were coming out of nowhere.

"Did you find anything?" Asked Jaune.

"Yes!" Shouted Vlad. "I used to come here with Neo! You see that big pile of junk over there?"

Vlad pointed at the biggest pile of junk there was. It was the highest and located at the middle of the scrapyard.

"What about it?"

"It's a tower. I think that Neo is on the lowest levels, bellow the ground. There is an elevator that you must take".

"Me?! What about you?"

Vlad suddenly stopped and took out his folded weapon from his back. It shifted to it's normal form, a spear composed of three parts with length of three meters and a blade similar to a bat fang surrounded by two wings.

"Vlad?" Jaune called him

Vlad spun the spear, shifting it's form to that of a shotgun with a wolf motif and pointed at Jaune's direction.

"What are you..."

"Run!"

Vlad shot, destroying the robot that was about to attack Jaune. His precision with the shotgun was impressive and Jaune could have swore he saw his glasses shining briefly.

Vlad spoke:

"From here on, it's impossible for an outsider to enter. I will drag their attention. After you are in, there will be no problem for me to go, since I am not an outsider".

"But-"

Vlad changed the wolf shotgun back to the bat spear and destroyed another robot:

"Just go! Find Neo!"

Jaune clenched his fist:

"Fine!" Jaune started running away. "Watch out, ok?"

* * *

Luna, Pyrrha and Ruby were climbing the mountain.

Pyrrha asked:

"Do you really think that they are on the top?"

Ruby nodded:

"Yang and Weiss came here before. Apparently, her locker crashed on the top of the mountain, where they needed to fight the dragon. If someone needed to lock Miss Goodwitch..."

Luna completed Ruby's phrase:

"They would go to where it was most dangerous. Sealing a damsel in distress on the highest tower with the evil dragon... That is so cool!"

Pyrrha awkwardly smiled at Luna's sense of fun.

* * *

The elevator had finally descended and Jaune was walking through the poor-lighted rock tunnel.

A metal door was on the way and Jaune opened it.

He found himself in a theater of sorts well illuminated. The space where the chairs were supposed to be on his front was empty and it was like he was the hero on the stage.

Down from the stage, meters far, was a boy with black and white hair wearing a black shirt with a green circuit-like pattern. His eyes had ``X`` shaped pupils

"Aaargh!"

"What the?!"

Jaune looked up. On the other side of the room was Yang, tied with chains by her pulses to the red wall near the roof.

On the middle of the roof, there was an unknown mechanism, which resembled an energy cannon pointed at Yang.

The boy turned and Jaune could see he was scarred in many places and black bandages were covering part of his arms:

"What are you doing here?!"

"You... You are Neo".

Neo opened his eyes wide. His face again changed to one of remorse and anger:

"Then... You are here to capture me too... Not even stopping to question my side of the story?"

Jaune got down from the stage to the white ground.

"I was going to do so... I was hoping somehow an accident happened when your team told me you couldn't control your aura... But... You even did that to Yang! I can't let you go wild anymore with my friends in danger... I am here to bring you to justice!"

His sheath went to shield form when Jaune drew his white sword.

Neo didn't flinch at his new opponent:

"Words never reach those who come after me... However, your friend also fought me and lost. Do you think of yourself as stronger than him?"

"No" Jaune pointed at Neo. "But Ren is helping me even now. You still haven't recovered from your fight with him yesterday!"

Neo looked at the black bandages covering his wounds:

"Yes... I still haven't... But now I don't have the same battlefield restrictions of yesterday. I may be weaker, but I am also stronger!"

Neo took his sword and drew it from it's mechanical sheath, revealing the black and green blade. Just after that, his sheath transformed itself and became a cannon with green glowing lines that covered his left forearm and hand.

Jaune stood there, waiting for the first strike. However, after a few seconds, he noticed Neo wouldn't attack. As such, the blonde decided to go first:

"Wait for me, Yang!"

He advanced.

At that moment, he heard the distinct sound of electricity gathering. A charged ball of energy was shot from Neo's arm cannon straight way at Jaune.

Several flashes of Ren in the infirmary appeared in Jaune's mind. In particular, the bandages covering his chest, indicating the cut he received. Either he received a strong slash...

Jaune put his shield forward and applied his aura to block the energy blast, the impact forcing him to back away a bit.

While he had blocked it, Jaune still felt his left arm being shocked from the blast. 'Yes...' Thought the blonde. 'Thanks, Ren. Not only you weakened him, but you also gave me a tip on how to fight my enemy!'

* * *

The lipstick kiss mark was still in Ren's left cheek and the boy was red.

It was rare to see Nora wearing lipstick. The boy in green felt that she was as much beautiful with it as without.

'What am I even thinking?' He thought to himself. 'Ever since that date... I can't even think right near her... Am I sick somehow? My chest also... It pumps harder and faster when she gets close... Is it some sort of serious disease?'

'Or... Is it... Love?'

'No! It isn't possible!' Ren shook his head. 'Yeah... Because... First I would need to... Confirm it... But how?'

Nora was looking at how strange Ren was acting and smiled when she turned her back to him:

'It's working... My plan is working! That's it, Ren. I will destroy that wall that makes up your obliviousness. Screw what Pyrrha said, aggressive moves are the best!'

Ren punched his own forehead.

"Ugh..."

'Yes, concentrate! You don't have time for this... You... I have been defeated. Something happened. And... According to Nora, the rest of our team and team RWBY went away. I need to know about...'

'The book from the store!'

"Nora!" Ren called her.

"What?!" Nora was surprised to be suddenly called.

Ren pointed at his backpack:

"I need you to... Bring me something that is in the main pocket..."

* * *

Jaune was closing the distance.

'Darn it!' Thought Neo. Unlike his sword, the sheath was only made with ancient knowledge, but it wasn't technology itself he utilized.

Using it didn't amplify his aura as much as the sword did. The sheath was designed to be a specific conduit for him, to make up for the little control he had.

But the boy was still too unstable. Electron Breeder had a limit of uses before the Dust Fuse was fried due to his power and needed to be changed.

The blonde was just a few meters away. Electron Breeder was nearing it's limit.

Positron Hunter, the sword, couldn't be used fully. After the fight with the boy in green, Neo's arm muscles were still damaged while slowly healing.

The white sword of his opponent was coming.

'What am I thinking?!' The boy didn't want a senseless fight to continue, nor to play by Luna's plan, but...

'I am still a swordsman'.

Yes. He, the one chosen to resurrect the sword, couldn't shame it by losing without trying.

The hilt was getting warm at his hand. 'You are with me in this too? All right, I shall be the extension. Forgive me if we lose'.

* * *

Jaune roared:

"Raaaaah!"

* * *

Crocea Mors was deflected by the green and black sword.

Jaune backed a bit. The sword twisted in the air and the blonde used his shield to defend himself.

As soon as the sword hit the shield, Jaune remembered to apply his aura to block the electricity, but his arm was still shocked a bit as he was too late.

The blonde backed three meters. His training was paying off. Blake honed his instincts, Weiss gave him a sense of precision and distance, and Pyrrha taught him how to fight overall.

'Not to mention...' The blonde looked at his opponent.

Neo threw the arm cannon away and started to hold his sword with two hands, but they were trembling.

'Yes...' Jaune smiled. 'Ren is helping me even now'.

How Jaune wasn't surprised by the true form of his opponent sword? From the inside, after observing Ren, he knew it wasn't a simple sword. He only hadn't realized.

'Thank you' he thought. 'Thanks to all of you... I won't lose!'

Both of the boys roared as they advanced against each other.

* * *

"Oh. My. God." Nora was surprised upon opening the backpack.

She took out a rectangular present and looked at it and then to Ren back and forth.

"Ren... You brought me a present?"

"Wh-what?!"

* * *

Neo advanced with for his victory. His sword was twisting itself in the air, but his arms were at their limit.

The first slash came.

Jaune followed his instincts and evaded to the left. He didn't know why, but he felt it was dangerous to back away.

The second slash came from the left while the blade was still cutting the air.

'How dumb can I be?!' Jaune shouted mentally. With it's length, the sword could use multiple slashes at the same time.

Jaune blocked it with his shield and aura, stopping the electricity from coming at him for the first time perfectly.

The third slash was coming. This one was aimed at his chest. He saw the image of his chest being slashes just like Ren's, but the situation was different.

Jaune still could use his legs. Due to that, he only needed to use one arm to block the second slash. He still had one free arm!

"Neeeeeoooooo!"

Crocea Mors clashed against Positron Hunter. White bursts and green sparks were emitted simultaneously at the draw. The aura of both of them was hurting the other while defending the warriors.

But the sword continued.

'Yes...' Neo thought upon looking the stopped warrior. His attack was actually a four-slash-combo. An ancient battle move designed to block all of his opponents movements and inflict a lethal strike. 'Your friend may have helped you until now, but...'

"Victory is mine!" Shouted Neo.

The boy was about to make the last slash, aimed at Jaune's neck.

* * *

"Aaaaargh!"

Jaune moved instinctively.

For some odd reason, Neo groaned in pain and had lost control of his arms. The fourth slash was never made.

The blonde attacked quickly. He stopped blocking, receiving Neo's electricity, but his arm still moved. 'This is...'

"FOR REN!"

At the chest, the same slash Ren had suffered was inflicted at Neo.

"Aaaaargh!"

Blood was sprayed at the ground when Neo fell after losing the battle.

* * *

Red eyes observed the entire fight.

He was normally paranoid when he linked his glasses to his scroll, but the spectacles recorded the image and sent a message to two girls.

* * *

NEO HAS BEEN DEFEATED.

Bellow the image, those were the words both Luna and Tracy received.

* * *

Luna grinned.

'It is time' she thought.

The girl looked at Pyrrha and Ruby. Both were carrying their weapons at that moment.

Luna had been forbidden of destroying the weapons through resonance, but she could still get an early advantage.

The silver-haired girl was, after all, considered the strongest member of her team due to her unfair powers against any opponent.

She advanced, the left hand aimed at Crescent Rose, the right one aimed at Miló.

"What the?!" Pyrrha and Ruby were both surprised.

An explosion occurred. The pieces that composed both of their weapons were disassembled before they could do anything.

"Crescent Rose!" Ruby was still surprised.

Pyrrha, however, followed her instincts and attempted to kick Luna.

The blue-hooded girl took her metallic backpack and blocked it.

A blue and silver shine happened right at the impact. The next moment, Luna was wearing a full body silver armor with a wolf motif that left no skin visible:

"Let us begin".

* * *

Weiss tried slashing the bandage, but it seemed indestructible.

"Grr..."

"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked the attacker.

Her left wrist and Weiss' right one were both tied by bandages conducted by Tracy.

They seemed to be controlled mentally. From the back of the girl's wait there was a rectangular box from which for bandages where being simultaneously coordinated by the girl.

Tracy didn't answer Blake's question.

The black-haired girl felt uneasy. That bandage seemed to be a big disadvantage, but she still couldn't figure out why.

* * *

"Hahahahah!"

That was the laugh Jaune heard coming from the shadows.

"What is happening?!" Shouted the blonde.

"We... It's all Luna's fault... Everything..." Muttered Neo weakly.

"What?!"

Jaune looked at Neo. For some odd reason, he was concerned at the boy.

"You are talking too much, Neo".

For the first time, Jaune recognized the voice. An unknown force pulled him backwards as Vlad jumped over him.

This time, team VLNT's leader was wearing strange gloves.

The boy picked Neo up and passed his hand at his wound.

"Argh!"

"It's over..."

Neo was fluctuating now. The cannon at the middle of the roof was activated.

"Aaaaaaarrrgh!"

Electricity was released from him and absorbed by the cannon. Just after that, the mechanism shone red and an energy blast was shot a Neo.

"Neo!" Jaune shouted his name.

The boy crashed through the wall and was outside Jaune's view.

Jaune directed his attention to Vlad:

"Why did you do this?! He was already defeated!"

"Because of this".

Both of Vlad's hands were directed to the mechanism. Green electricity came from it and the boy absorbed it through the gloves.

"Yes... Hahahha... It's perfect! It works! I can feel it! All of his powers added to mine! Hahahaha!"

Vlad was laughing maniacally. Jaune didn't understand the words right away, but prepared to strike him with Crocea Mors. However...

"Don't even think about it!"

Vlad directed his left hand at Jaune and a red lightning striked the boy, shocking him and sending backwards.

"It... Is not... Possible..." Jaune muttered at the ground.

"Yes..." Vlad smiled at Jaune. "I stole his soul. All of his aura and his semblance are now mine!"

Jaune couldn't believe at what he heard.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Hahahhaha! Really, Arc? It that what doesn't make sense? I thought for sure it was the fact that you trusted every nonsense we spoke..." Vlad started to use a mocking tone: "Watch out! The evil Neo who can't even control his aura has kidnapped Ozpin, Glynda and Yang! Please help us! Hahahahhaha!"

"It can't be..." Jaune couldn't refuse any more. After clashing swords with the boy, he felt that he wasn't the type to do such stuff, which meant... "Why did you do this to him?! He..."

"Was the most righteous of my team" said Vlad. For the first time, he didn't say 'our' when referring to the team. "The only one who disagreed... Now, he is the first guinea pig".

"No! It can't be! Then that means..."

Vlad again used a mocking tone:

"Poor Neo, after that bloody war, the trauma never let him use his aura to it's fullest. After we came to Beacon, he tried to believe we could have a new start. He even tried to stop our 'evil' stuff" Vlad acquired an angry expression. "He even turned against me, his own prince!"

Jaune opened his eyes wide. The reason Tracy seemed to admire Vlad was...

"Why... How... What did you..."

"The bat got your tongue, boy?"

Vlad took off his backpack. This, in turn, release the long black and red bat wings on his back. The backpack was fake all along, a mean to hide his true specie.

"Much better..." He muttered.

"A faunus..." Jaune muttered. "Then... The White Fang..."

"Please... Don't compare me to them. They are just a bunch of filthy animals that need their leashes. However, they are as much as my enemies as the Schnee Dust Company. But this has nothing to do with now".

"You will never reach whatever you plan!"

Jaune was still paralyzed. He didn't want to admit, but Vlad seemed to really control electricity better than Neo.

The bat-winged boy stepped forward.

"You people already did that for me!"

"What?!"

"Thanks to you, team JNPR, we didn't go to the trouble of having to actually risk getting caught after eliminating Neo! You already did this for me! Thank you very much!"

"What?!"

Jaune had a terrible realization. That guy, he took advantage of his teammate's weakness and misfortune. He incriminated Neo and manipulated Jaune and Ren into fighting him.

"You will never get away!" Shouted the blonde.

Vlad smiled:

"I already did, boy. You see, aside from the fact you don't know the entire plan, all that is known is that both of us came here to stop whoever harmed Lie Ren. As far as I know, when I get out, we failed to save Xiao Long, both you and Neo killed each other and, for some freaky accident, I absorbed their souls. Hahahahahah".

Jaune opened his eyes wide. He couldn't still move. 'I... I have done all of this? Then... Neo, he was the one who... He...'

"Words never reach those who come after me..." Those were the words he said before he decided to fight Jaune. The anger Neo always displayed was at himself?

Vlad approached in slow steps and took raised his spear:

"Thank you again, Jaune Arc. Without you, this would have been so much harder".

'No...'

The spear was pointed at the boy.

"Good bye. Let's see if you are as much as Luna deduced you are!"

The spear came at Jaune's direction.

Jaune forced every inch of his body to break free of the paralysis and somehow defend himself.

.

.

.

'Cmon...'

.

.

.

'Please!'

.

.

.

'Give me strength!'

* * *

But Jaune couldn't move fast enough. It was impossible for him to block the spear.

'I am sorry, Neo!'

"Jaune!" He heard a female's voice. Yang had probably woken and was trying to call him, but it was too late.

* * *

"You look like such a loser!" Said a male voice.

CLANK.

The spear didn't kill Jaune.

"What the..." Vlad's voice was of surprise. "You are..."

* * *

**Heretic note: NOW! Play the OST!**

* * *

Jaune looked up, at his savior and muttered his name:

"Cardin?"

"Winchester..." Vlad finished it in surprise.

The bat-winged faunus used his wings in conjunction with his feet to back away eight meters. It was his battle distance, made to use with his three-meter spear to fight middle ranged and analyze any opponent.

Cardin put the mace he used to block the spear on his shoulder:

"What is the matter, freak? Got scared?"

"How... How did you know..."

* * *

Tracy evaded attacks from Blake and Weiss at the same time and checked her scroll.

INTERFERENCE OF WINCHESTER...

* * *

... WATCH OUT.

Luna read the last part surprised. 'This... It wasn't included in my plans! This is...' She smiled. 'Very amusing... Show me, Vlad. Show me the future beyond my imagination!'

* * *

Cardin looked at Jaune:

"I don't remember seeing you ever give up after we fought. Get up, Jaune! You are looking ridiculous".

Jaune forced himself and supported his body on his hands. He then looked at Cardin:

"But... How did you..."

"Yes" Vlad was still at battle stance. "I guess you have some explaining to do".

"And I guess you shouldn't underestimate your teammates" said Cardin.

Vlad opened his eyes wide:

"No... Way..."

Cardin smiled arrogantly:

"Yes... Stein warned me about everything. I couldn't trust one single word of that nonsense, but I figured, why not check it out?"

* * *

In the past:

Cardin was talking through the scroll:

"Why would I believe in you?"

"Because Jaune Arc will be in danger".

Cardin opened his eyes wide, then he spoke with a regretful tone:

"I am not his friend. I am not a hunter. I am just... If you want help, seek team RWBY, those idiots will help anybody".

"I believe..." Neo continued talking. "That people may change. I know about how he saved your life. If you want an excuse to come, that's it. Just... Try to check it once at least".

* * *

Afterwards...

Cardin was talking to his team with a map on his table.

Dove said:

"So... According to that freak, they are here?"

Cardin nodded:

"Yes".

Russel looked at the map:

"Four of us, three places. We should go all to one, to make sure the win is ours, then we go for the rest one by one".

"We can't do that" responded Cardin. "We may not have time".

Sky Lark approached the map:

"Two of us should go to the Dragon's Nest then. But, you sure this is true?"

Cardin showed his fist:

"If it isn't, we will have payback with that freak. For now, we must go".

* * *

Vlad was still surprised, but he regained his composure:

"I see... Neo was so scared he had to rely on bullies".

Cardin had a mocking answer:

"I may be a no-good-bully, but I am enough to take care of you. Not that it matters, since I will have a little help..."

Cardin turned to Jaune.

Jaune looked at team CRDL's leader in the eyes.

The man who used to bully him. The man who got hold of his greatest secret. The man who blackmailed him. The man who kept his secret and stopped his teasing...

And finally, the man who just saved his life.

Cardin extended his hand:

"Or rather... A very big help".

Jaune smiled. He finally could move and accepted the hand that was helping him:

"Cardin... It doesn't matter what anyone say about you. It doesn't matter what you used to do. Now you are a hero".

Cardin helped Jaune get up:

"Hmph, I only came here to even the score, nothin' more".

"Keep saying that" Jaune mocked him happily. Then, he turned his attention to Yang, who seemed surprised by everything that was happening. "Yang... I don't think that I, no... I don't think that we will be able to save you... I know that we will save you! So just hang in there a little!"

"Gee, you never change" said Cardin.

Jaune smiled:

"And you changed a lot".

"Let's just get this over with".

Vlad looked at both of his opponents at the same time:

"Fine. It shall be interesting. I am more than enough to beat someone that is already half-dead and a fake bully. Now I even have Neo's power added to my own! Feel free to come at me both at once".

Cardin looked at him challenging:

"Whatever, freak. You will end up regretting that when we tear off your wings!"

"You may be able to defeat us alone. But together we are unbeatable! Let's do this, Cardin!"

Cardin held his mace with both hands. Jaune held both his sword and shield. The two students were now back-to-back against each other, both looking at their opponent.

Vlad recorded that image with his glasses.

His opponents weren't someone who faked his way into Beacon, nor someone who used to be pleased by others' misfortune, but they were valiant warriors, hunters in training steps away from becoming heroes.

* * *

**Heretic notes:**

**(:O)**

**See? Told you guys team VNLT would make CRDL look like heroes.**

**It was nice writing this chapter. Next one will take a while, this isn't a lie. I only did this early because I had to take an entire day in bed.**

**Team VLNT Onslaught: 2/4**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Made it full of surprises for you people (I know you guys like 'em).**

**Heretic, out!**


	9. Chptr 9: The Prince of Death's Evil Ways

**The Prince of Death's Evil Ways**

* * *

"Sweet dreams are made of these..."

Luna evaded attacks from Ruby and Pyrrha.

"Who am I to disagree..."

The two boys she didn't know the names tried attacking from the back. She held one of them by the leg and threw in the other.

"I've travelled the world and the seven seas..."

Pyrrha turned to Ruby:

"Is it just me, or is she singing?"

Ruby risked to answer her:

"She really is!"

Luna was actually wearing small headphones under her armor:

"Everybody is looking for something..."

"Hey!" Ruby called her.

She evaded Sky Lark's attack and threw him at Pyrrha:

"Yes?"

"Are you listening to music?"

"Yes!"

Dove got angry:

"What the hell?! Don't you know respect, bitch?!"

Luna didn't care for what he was saying:

"Look who is talkin'... Actually, my leader said that I lacked morals or something".

"Why are you doing this anyway?!" Asked Sky Lark.

The boy tried approaching to punch her. Luna extended her hand in his direction and a powerful soundwave threw him back.

"Now that was a good question. Why? Hmm... Soon you will find out".

'This is bad' thought Pyrrha. Her opponent destroyed the weapons of the four of them as if it was nothing.

Pyrrha used her semblance to get all the pieces, but she wouldn't be able to assemble it now.

The main problem was, however, Lycaon.

That girl was playing, not fighting. Four against one and she didn't seem to tire at all. Also, that armor seemed inpenetrable.

"Grwwwwoooooaaaaahhh!"

A roar interrupted her thoughts. Pyrrha looked up and soon remembered...

They were near the dragon's nest.

Luna whistled and smirked:

"Wow... Now things will get interesting".

* * *

Tracy wasn't as strong as Luna.

Nor did she have as much potential as Neo.

And she wouldn't even dare of thinking of comparing herself to Vlad.

However, she was the one of her team most skilled in using ancient technology.

Even against three first years, the girl managed to win the fight without using much aura.

How?

It was simple: her weapon, Mummy Maker, allowed her to quickly immobilize her opponents.

Although she was limited to control a maximun of four bandages, the girl could still employ fabric from other creatures as extensions and easily manipulate it.

At the ground, separated, but near each other, were Blake, Weiss and Russel. All of them were tied and had most of their body covered from black bandages made out of Ursa skin.

"That was easier and harder than I expected" stated the girl in purple.

The four bandages on her back regressed to the box as she looked at Russel. "I have you to thank for that".

Russel gave her an angry glare.

Blake turned to him:

"If it serves as consolation, I am thankful for your help. It was very brave of you".

Russel averted his gaze while embarassed:

"Aw, man. It was nothing like that, I just obeyed Cardin".

Tracy didn't understand his words:

"What do you-"

"Wait, what?!" Weiss was just as surprised. "Cardin sent you to help us?!"

"Why do you think I came here?"

Weiss and Blake looked at each other. Blake said:

"Well... That was..."

"Fishy" said Weiss.

"I was going to say 'odd', Weiss".

One of the bandages came from Tracy's back and lifted Russel in the air:

"Waaah".

"They are right" she said. "While when I fought you people you seemed different from weeks ago, I don't see a reason for your leader to help team RWBY, nor for how he knew they were in danger. State how he got such information".

Russel looked at her angrily:

"That freak of your teammate told us".

Blake realized it:

"Neo?"

Weiss was surprised:

"He helped us?!"

Tracy let go of Russel.

'This is unexpected' she thought. 'They had no reason to believe in Neo after Luna incriminated him, which means they didn't want to risk the danger'.

'They actually came to help fellow students while knowing it was a trap... And also, Neo...'

'That's a strange way for you to play, Neo. But more bizarre is that team CRDL demonstrated more of the traits that we are seeking for...'

* * *

Neo opened his eyes.

He was lying on the ground in the dark, a hole of light was in a near wall.

His chest wound wasn't so bad anymore, but his injuries were no joke.

'How much of a failure can I be? Two first years were enough to take me down?'

He still couldn't move his arms, but he got up and forced himself to walk to the light. Just when his eyes got adapted, he heard a girl's voice:

"You're alive?!"

That blonde girl tied by chains to the wall was by his side, left from the hole. He knew her.

Yang Xiao Long, first year student. A somewhat stubborn prodigy, but all the qualities and flaws already checked. There was no need to put her through the tests.

Neo turned to her:

"I told you what Vlad would do. Don't you remember?"

He looked down. Vlad was fighting alone Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester.

Neo's eyes opened wide:

Vlad was fighting on close range. His spear became a triple bar bladed on both sides. 'What the?! Vlad... What are you doing?!'

Neo recognized it. Vlad's weapon, Dracungnir, had three "unlocked" modes. Right now, it was in "Neblina" mode, adapted for close ranged battles and sure-kill moves.

'This is bad... Arc is already tired from his battle with me, if he fails once, it might cost him his life!'

* * *

Jaune blocked Vlad's attack with his shield and went to the side.

Cardin took that opportunity and advanced with his mace.

Vlad evaded and quickly shifted his weapon to a spear. It gained red marks when he swung it.

"Watch out!" Shouted Cardin.

He blocked the attack with his mace, but the power was enough to send him back a few meters.

"Cardin!" Jaune turned to Vlad and attacked with Crocea Mors.

The spear shifted to a triple bar. Jaune managed to deflect four attacks, but then, he received a shotgun shot and was sent back.

'This makes no sense!' Thought Vlad.

'This is all they can do?! Arc may be fatigued after fighting with Neo, but still... The skill they are displaying is bellow average!'

'You two... Do not mock me! Do not underestimate me just because it's two on one! If it's to meet such dishonor, then...'

Vlad started using a mocking tone:

"That's all you fools can do? I can't believe that Neo was defeated by two weaklings".

Jaune got up:

"Since when do you care for him?"

"I am only stating what I see. Neo lacked focus, but he was still powerful. All that I see in front of me are two idiots who can barely fight. Your masters must be so ashamed".

Jaune shouted in anger:

"You have no right to talk such stuff after what you did!"

Vlad laughed:

"What I did? Please... At least, I didn't doubt his inner good" Vlad pointed at Jaune. "You believed in everything I said. I never saw an idiot that would do that. You met Neo and right away jumped into a fight" Vlad got angry. "Not once you stopped to analyse the situation!"

The enemy's words pierced Jaune's mind. Cardin noticed it and couldn't help but feel concern for him. In anger, he turned to Vlad:

"But you are still the one who killed him!"

"Me? It's not like I didn't try to stop myself..."

"What?!"

Vlad got calm:

"Since the day we first met... Since my eyes met his, I didn't like him one bit. Everything he was made me angry. I wanted to kill him, to make him suffer to the very core... But killing the guy right away wasn't fair, right? So, I made the point system!"

Jaune was still frozen, Cardin got up:

"Point system?"

Vlad smiled and laughed like a madman:

"Yes! Everytime he did something that would make me angry, I would give him one point. And, after one million points, I would kill him! I swore to my spear that I wouldn't kill him until then. And boy! I waited a lot! TAH DAH! One million points came and I decided to take his life! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Cardin gritted his teeth:

"You freak... You are rotten to your very soul!"

'This is bad' he thought. Cardin knew Vlad was stronger than him. And now... Jaune's mental state would pose a problem. He looked at Vlad: 'DARN HIM! Why can't I do anything?!'

Vlad met his eyes and gave him an evil smile. 'Yes... Feel anger. Your friend is in pain, you have to help him. If you don't come at me with everything... I will have to force you to".

* * *

'Darn it!' Weiss was trying to free herself from the bandages, debating herself in the ground.

Tracy looked at her calmly and muttered:

"It's no use, Schnee. Besides, it's your own fault that you are in this situation".

"Excuse me?! You are the one-"

Tracy interrupted her:

"By no means I am able to beat the two of you at the same time" she turned to Blake. "You, at least, I thought I wouldn't be able to. However, you let your emotions control you, and it caused your demise".

Tracy knew the cause of it. Love, despair, Jaune Arc.

Russel shouted:

"SHUT UP! At least they tried to save their friends!"

Tracy looked at him curiously:

"Your team changed a lot since the Forever Fall Incident. I recognize that if you had help, the result may have been different. But still, now my job is done. Only Luna and Vlad need to end theirs".

Blake was angry at her, but then she turned to Russel:

"Did Cardin send help to others?"

He nodded:

"Two to the dragon's nest, Cardin went to the scrapyard. That silver-haired girl must be in trouble".

"HAHAHA!" Tracy laughed. "Luna is able to beat the rest of our team alone, boy. And also, I already fought Cardin. He and Jaune aren't enough to beat Vlad".

Weiss looked at her:

"They will!"

"You don't understand, girl. Vlad's family is known as 'weakless'. The make their faults their strength. Beating him in strategy is nearly impossible, you need strength that surpass him in adittion to that. And the only member of RWBY and JNPR with such qualities are..."

Blake realized the answer in fear:

"Yang and Nora..."

* * *

Cardin realized how unfair the fight was.

Jaune was looking weaker than ever, his attacks weren't helping and Cardin lost the synchronization that he had with him before.

Besides, Tepes didn't flinch at all. He didn't demonstrate fatigue and all of his movements were too precise. No energy was wasted.

Cardin thought that he could make a weakness out of the wings, but they only made the fight harder!

His movements, his center of gravity, his equilibrium, no other warrior had anything similar to that bat-boy.

'This is bad...' He thought. 'If I can't make Jaune help me... We are both dead...'

* * *

Ren didn't even want to think what Nora was about to do when the door of the infirmary was suddenly opened.

From it entered a boy dressed in red, clothes resembling a zealot of sorts. His eyes were green.

Nora didn't like the interruption, but she recognized him:

"You are..."

The bowed while introducing himself:

"My name is Nero Caesar, it's a pleasure to meet you".

"Wait..." Ren remembered what the batender had said. "You know what is happening, right?"

Nero nodded

"Indeed. My good friend, Luna, sent me here to explain it to you".

* * *

Vlad's sepectacles were showing him the data of his opponents and himself.

On the left len:

- JAUNE ARC: 34%

- CARDIN WINCHESTER: 56%

On the right len:

- VLADIMIR TEPES: 88%

Vlad didn't smile, since he was analyzing everything.

Jaune's aura was already wasted due to his fight with Neo. However, now it was being rapidily reduced.

Likewise, Cardin was using most of his to protect Jaune.

Vlad was in his perfect mental state. Also, his movements were precise. And, due to the advantage of Dracungnir, his aura attacks were amplified. He didn't lose as much aura as the others.

'This will end soon' he thought.

Jaune was coming at him.

Vlad looked at the boy. 'Ignorant fool. You have let your emotions take over. If this is all that you can do, then Luna was gravely mistaken. Someone like you... Is unworthy to be called a leader!'

'This. Ends. NOW!'

The biggest advantage of spears isn't the thrust, but the swing.

The glasses measured it perfectly, but Vlad didn't need to see:

- VLADIMIR TEPES: 88%

This quickly changed:

- VLADIMIR TEPES: 78%

Such swing was enough.

"Rwoaaah!"

.

Jaune wasn't in condition to evade it.

.

His movements were sloppy.

.

Even if he did block, his aura would be gravely wasted.

* * *

"Aaaaargh!"

The powered spear hit an opponent, but it wasn't Jaune.

"CARDIN!"

* * *

- CARDIN WINCHESTER: 32%

* * *

Jaune ran to him.

Cardin's armor was partially destroyed. The chest part was completely broken and the exposed skin was cocered in blood.

"You... Are... Such an idiot..."

Jaune looked at him is fear:

"Why... Why did you do that?!"

"Because... I felt like it..."

"You..." Jaune was sad. "You idiot..."

"You loser" Cardin reprimated him. "That freak just said a few words and it was enough to make you a sitting duck... Act like a hero just for once... I don't remember seeing you give up before!"

Jaune gritted his teeth. And looked at Vlad.

The bat-winged faunus smiled:

"That's right, listen to the bully. Get up, so that he saves you again and I slice his neck this time".

"Vladimir..." Jaune muttered his name in anger.

"What exactly do you plan to accomplish, foolish humans?" Vlad started to mock him. "I am stronger than ever now. And my opponents? A terrible person who only knows how to harass others" Cardin gritted his teeth. "And an ignorant that attacked his own ally".

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Jaune. "Cardin changed! He is... My friend! And I am going to take you down! For Ren, for Yang, for him... And... For Neo!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Vlad only laughed at him.

Cardin pulled him and Jaune turned to the wounded warrior:

"You..."

"Stop, Jaune... You have to run... I will stay and slow him down... If you get out, we might be able to..."

Vlad was surprised. 'That is actually a good strategy. A coward's one, yes. But still... He has talents for leadership...'

"NO!" Jaune turned him down. "I won't let anyone die anymore! I will stay and beat Vlad" Jaune got up.

"Hehehehe... You? I dare you to try".

Vlad felt Dracungnir heating up. 'You have felt it too, right? Yes... Now he may be worthy to fight... Too bad he is already too wasted'.

Cardin forced himself to get up.

"Cardin?! You have to-"

"Stay down like a loser like you and screw everything up? Like hell! We are in this together, so shut up!"

Vlad felt it.

The powers of both of them was beginning to interest him. They were already fatigued, but might be able to put up a good fight now.

'However... The true test begins now. Show me how you can handle this':

"You sure about this, Jaune? Ready to get Cardin's death on your hands? I don't think you both can withstand so much".

"I don't care!" Said Cardin.

"No one is going to die anymore!" Said Jaune.

"You sure?" Vlad smiled.

* * *

Both Luna and Tracy received the same message:

THE END IS NEARING. SEND ME THE IMAGES.

* * *

Two hologram screens appeared in front of Jaune and Cardin.

Vlad (sarcastically):

"As far as I know, both of you are the best leaders I have ever seem"

One of the images showed Blake, Weiss and Russel tied at the ground.

The other was revealing Pyrrha, Ruby, Sky and Dove heavily fatigued while Luna was helmetless smiling at the photo.

"No..." Muttered Jaune.

"My team too..." Muttered Cardin.

Vlad smiled:

"Think you can defeat me and save them all? Hahahhaha!"

"You..." Jaune looked at it. They were all... "You... YOU BASTARD! THEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!"

"HAHAHAHA! Yes! Shout, SCREAM, you dirty human! That suffering look of yours pays off everything! Hahahahaha!"

Cardin stepped forward:

"WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Vlad smiled again.

Dracungnir was in spear form, Chauve-Souris mode. 'Now it's good. If they were to give me anything less than their all, it wouldn't be worthy all that we had go through'.

His red eyes shone:

"Come at me, humans! I will drink your blood until the last drop!"

* * *

**Heretic notes:**

**This is still humor/romance, dammit! Just endure the final chapter of Team VLNT Onslaught!**

**I just need...**

**To... Do... Mor... E...**

* * *

**Heretic... notes...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

* * *

**Protagonist notes:**

**Luna Lycaon is taking this over for now! Hahahaha.**

**That fool... If you were going to expand the plot, you weren't supposed to darken it so much! Like... Who the hell expands a harem this way? You wanted to give Jaune permanent traumas?**

**At least don't do the same in that other fic of yours! Lie Ren is already in enough trouble as it is!**

**Now, to get back to business...**

**How is it guys?**

**Man, I just hope Vlad doesn't have a point system for me!**

**Forgive that writer, I know you all wanted a fic about me.**

**After all, I am the one who pulled the strings of this whole thing! _And_ I am the cute girl with puppy eyes here, it's not like you came here to see Vlad beating people up.**

**Hope you people liked what you read (although I wasn't much of a focus).**

**This writer... Who the hell makes a hero out of Cardin?**

**Ahem...**

**See you in the next chapter, the finale of our team's arc!**

**Luna is out!**


	10. Chapter 10: Full Power Battle Clash

**Protagonist notes:**

**Luna is tampering a computer while talking through her headphones:**

**"Here is Luna Lycaon, of the RWBY fandom, I have been informed there have been bad news on your side. Is the Zexal fandom okay?"**

**Tracy looks at Luna:**

**"What are you doing? We have to say something now, the chapter is about to start".**

**"It can wait..." Luna resumes her matters: "is Zexal fandom okay? Waiting for... Oh my..." Luna turns to Tracy: "Tracy, Zexal fandom is not okay!"**

**Tracy was already angry at Luna's lack of seriousness:**

**"Of course they are not okay! The writers already killed off more than half of the cast! For the purgatory's sake, they made one of the three main protagonists die of suffocation on the moon!"**

**"Yeeeeaaaahh... That was pretty cool!"**

**"Luna!"**

**"Okay... Cof cof. Alright guys, here it is! Team VLNT Onslaught arc finale. I have scattered a few links for OSTs across the chapter. So, be ready to stop when needed".**

**"Anyway" proceeded Tracy. "I am here to thank you for reading this far. And to assure you that it isn't the end of this fanfic... Yet. Anyway, let us start!"**

* * *

Chapter 10: Full Power Battle Clash

Dove twisted his body in air in an attempt to hit Luna.

The armor clad girl was powerful. Dove knew that. Or rather, he knew it too well.

After the defeat at the hands of the purple-haired girl, team CRDL was approached by her days ago. And the encounter was enough to make sure they wouldn't ever spread information regarding the locker incident to anybody.

Tracy managed to defeat them all at once, but they were still recovering from a previous incident. Luna, however, was on another level.

He knew... Team CRDL knew. That was why Cardin sent two members to the dragon's nest. It wasn't because of the dragon, but because of her.

He never expected to fight the girl unarmed.

Four against one and the fight was too unbalanced.

The battlefield was frozen. Seconds were passing like minutes.

Pyrrha was holding Lark's hand, as for he was about to fall from the mountain. Ruby was being sent back by a powerful punch. And Dove, who was in air, was trying to land a hit on the armored girl.

All of that while a black dragon was circling the mountain.

After that punch Luna wouldn't be able to dodge. That kick full of aura had to do something!

"Woooaahhh!"

.

.

.

* * *

Luna received an impact on the back of her head.

'Heh' she thought. 'They actually managed to land a hit on me. Fascinating. But still, not enough'.

The girl didn't even flinch at the kick. Dove fell to the ground.

Luna was the only member of team VLNT who technically didn't posess a weapon.

Her armor, however, was better than most weapons.

Harbinger in Berserk was the name. Just like the rest of her team, Luna's armor was based on ancient technology. HB (that's how she abreviated the armor) had many functions she didn't even know how worked or how she could unlock.

However, the few she had were more than enough. Far enough to make her able to beat Vlad, Tracy and Neo at the same time.

"Grwwwwooooaaaaahhh!"

The girl smiked from under the helmet and spoke:

"I suggest you to try something fast, guys. The dragon is coming".

But she didn't need to fear the creature.

'Hmm... I wonder how things are going on Tracy's side'.

* * *

Russel was observing everything carefully.

Tracy had immobilized them, and they should be unarmed.

Or rather, that was what she was thinking.

Punks always had some sort of hidden weapon. Russel was no different.

The swiss knife in his pocket should be able to cut through the black fabric, but he knew he couldn't fight Tracy.

Yes... He was weak... As much as he hated to admit it, the two girls near him were far more powerful than him.

And corageous... And with better personalities... And cute...

'What did Jaune do to get them?' Russel quickly shook his head. 'Focus, man! It's like... That big time for you to become a hero or something... You have to think!'

Enemy: Tracy Khufu.

Allies: Blake and Weiss.

'Okay... Tracy did say something about Blake... So... She must be the worst enemy for her. Also, she is a ninja... Ok... I need to free myself, then free her. Then I will think of what to do...'

Fight?

Never!

The enemy is a second year student that beat him up. Why fight when people can run away?

'That is it!' He realized. 'We don't need to fight! We just need to run back to Beacon and expose those people. They would for sure believe in Bookworm and Snobby Princess!'

The knife was set.

The punk grinned.

* * *

Ren's side...

Nero still continued talking about his story of one year ago:

"That was the time... When I was out of aura... When the rest of my teammates were defeated... Their leader, Vladimir, approached my leader on the ground..."

* * *

One year ago...

Nero was at the ground, wounded and powerless. Vlad was still on his feet and he approached a girl that had fainted due to the battles.

"That's the power of team MDNS? Such a disgrace... To think weaklings tried toyed with us and we went by those silly lies". Vlad turned his attention to Nero. "Luna said you were the one manipulating everything. Killing you now wouldn't make me happy. You have to suffer for breaking my pride!"

Vlad took out his spear and pointed at the girl. Nero shouted:

"No! Don't do anything to her!"

Vlad smiled.

"Very well, you will!" Vlad noticed Nero was too surprised to speak. "I give you ten seconds to state anything. If you state the truth, I shall decapitate her. If what you state is a lie, her death will be through strangling".

'What?!' Thought Nero. 'I... There isn't anything I can do?! Mary... You will die by my words? But I...'

Nero's thoughts were interrupted:

"Ten seconds have passed. This means you have given me the right to choose her death". Vlad smiled: "hahahaha! Do you know that most students call me 'The Impaler'? I want to know, Caesar. I want to see her blood after her heart is pierced"

Vlad prepared to attack. The spear was directed and was about to kill Nero's leader.

"No... STOP IIIIT!"

The spear stopped centimeters away from the back of the girl.

Vlad seemed to think for some seconds and then said:

"Who would have known? You have stated the truth, Caesar. Very well, I will gladly take her head!"

* * *

Ruby's side:

Ruby was with many problems at once. Fighting weaponless against an armored opponent wasn't easy.

If it wasn't bad enough, they could beneasily pushed away from the cliff and fall all the way down.

Also...

"GRWWWOOOOAAAAHH!"

A black dragon spitting fire at them and attacking with his claws frok time to time made things even more difficult.

Worse of all was that her opponent didn't even seem to care!

Pyrrha barely pulled Lark back and was kicked on her stomach by the berserk girl.

"Argh!"

Ruby quikly tried helping them, but Luna actually threw Dove on her direction and nearly knocked them off the cliff.

"Why are you doing this?!" She questioned the armored enemy.

"What? Just now you ask? Girl, I thought you had realized I wouldn't say anything by now".

Pyrrha got up:

"Whatever is the reason for this fight, it must stop. That dragon is a threat to all of us".

Luna shook her head:

"That dragon is, just like me, a problem for you. Forgot already? Flawless armor, spartan girl. And even if that failed, I can run away from a dragon".

Dove looked at her om the blue visor of her armor:

"What makes you so sure?"

"I already escaped from a dragon in my past" upon saying that, all other students got surprised. "Buuuut, since you people want to know a bit more of my reasons, think that: I am not the only member of my team".

"What do you..." Ruby started to realize what she was saying.

Sky Lark nodded:

"Cardin sent us to help teams RWBY and JNPR".

"No..." Muttered Pyrrha. "Jaune!"

"Yes yes yes" Luna nodded three times. "Tracy normally defeats by incapacitating, but Vlad prefers a hot blooded fight. If your friend doesn't respond with an equal battling spirit... Well, Vlad will not respond with a warrior's honor".

Ruby shouted to all allies present:

"We have to go! Our teams need help".

Luna nodded again:

"Yeeeeah... About that, I can't let you go until Vlad's fight is over".

"Then..." Pyrrha readied her battle stance. "I will make sure they will. I shall be your only opponent, Lycaon!"

Ruby looked at her:

"Pyrrha..."

"GRRWWWWWOOOAAAHH!"

The dragon was approaching again.

"Nope" Luna shook her head. "You people won't go anywhere".

* * *

**1st OST, guys:**

** watch?v=tIyNAF5rgYk**

* * *

"Rrryyyhaaaaahh!"

Jaune attacked with Crocea Mors.

Vlad defended with his spear. He turned it and, with the blade pointed at Jaune, the shot was made.

His shield was put up fast and blocked the bullet.

Vlad prepared to strike, but a mace came on his direction. Cardin wouldn't let him get any chances.

The spear twisted itself. The blade shifted into a smaller one and anothe grew at it's end.

The triple bar blocked the mace and the white sword's new attack simultaneously.

Vlad prepared to shoot simultaneously, widespread pellets at both of them, but they evaded by turning their bodies.

'Such reflexes!' Vlad noted mentally when his wings beat, starting to distance him.

However...

Jaune and Cardin didn't just evade, they were prepared to attack also!

A punch from Cardin and a kick from Jaune!

"Tarh!" Vlad felt both moves when the impact threw him back.

'They are serious' he thought. 'Underestimating them will be fatal to me'.

Another large arc from the mace came.

Dracungnir shifted into a three barrel shotgun with a wolf motif, Wulf mode. And he shot.

The larger bullet at Cardin, the widespread pellets at Jaune.

The blonde blocked with his shield and Cardin woth his mace.

'Finally they have become opponents worthy of my spear' Vlad looked at them again. Fighting at full synchro. 'It's a shame, however, that my victory is already guaranteed'.

* * *

"NOW!" Shouted Russel.

His bandages were ripped. Tracy was surprised.

The boy threw something on her direction. Tracy tried blocking with her bandages, but the thing spread.

"Argh!" She covered her eyes.

The thing Russel threw was dirt, earth from the ground.

When she cleaned her eyes, Tracy only saw the black blurr on her direction.

"MUMMY MAKER!" She shouted.

One of the bandages wrapped itself on her left arm and rightsode of the body, pulling it and augmenting her strength.

The black blade clashed against the bandage that covered the arm, but didn't seem to damage it.

Close to each other, Tracy recognized those yellow eyes.

"Thank you, Russel!" Shouted Blake while Russel freed Weiss. "I will take care of her".

"No" Tracy disagreed. "You shall be restricted again".

* * *

"Prepare yourselves" muttered Luna.

The girl turned her attention to dragon that was coming. Her silver armor acquired blue markings while she readied her aura.

"WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ruby and co. covered their ears. The girl was howling like a wolf, but the soundwaves destructive power was way more dangerous.

"GRWWOOOAAHH!" Roared the dragon.

It's flight was affected. The dragon was coming crashing on them!

"We gotta move!" Shouted Lark.

Luna jumped back and so did her opponents.

The dragon destroyed the place they were in and they started to fall in the middle of the rocks.

Ruby felt it was similar to when her team foight the Nevermore, but they didn'thave weapons to propulse themselves this time.

'But...' She noticed the dragon falling too. 'I found a way to escape her!'

* * *

Weiss readied Myrtenaster and observed while Blake clashed against Tracy.

Everytime Blake would be hit or apparently restricted, she escaped leaving an afterimage behind.

But Tracy was still able of blocking all of her fast hits.

Weiss carved her sword on the ground as the wall of ice was launched on Tracy's direction.

The girl with purple hair was about to evade, but Blake appeared from the back and attacked, forcing her to stay.

'What the?!' Tracy was surprised. At that rate, both of them would be frozen.

"Grr..."

Two of her bandages extended and got energized when they pierced the ice. The explosion sent shards everywhere and liberated a dense fog.

"NOW!" Shouted Russel. "I initiated it, come!"

'Initiated?!' Tracy realized what they were doing. Tha last free bandage touched the ground and she felt two beings gaining distance. 'They are fleeing!'

"I will not let you!"

* * *

Ruby and Pyrrha jumped from rock to rock in the fall and reached the dragon.

Dove and Lark followed them, but when the dragon started to fly...

***STOMP***

A fifth person was also standing.

Luna turned her attention to them:

"Did ya really think it would be this easy?"

Lark and Dove looked at each other and smiled:

"Of course not" said Dove.

Lark turned to Ruby and Pyrrha:

"We are leaving the rest of our team to you guys. Don't screw that up!"

Both boys jumped at Luna and grabbed her.

"Wait, stop!" Shouted Pyrrha.

It was too late. The three of them were already falling in the air.

* * *

Blake and Weiss got in the boat amd Russel started accelerating.

Weiss noticed the cabled torn and connected:

"You stole a bost from school?!"

Russel couldn't believe her:

"I came to help you people! Shut up if you are going to question me!"

"Why you..."

"Guys..." Blake called them. "She is coming!"

Shot from the forest into the air, Tracy was approaching in high speed.

"I need to stay driving!" Said Russel.

Weiss looked at Blake and smiled:

"As Yang would say..."

Blake smiled back:

"Let's hit her with everything we got!"

Blue blasts and bullets were shot at Tracy.

The girl spun mid air and golden blasts came from her, clashing agains Blake's and Weiss' while causing small explosions.

One bandages reached her boat, the one he used to get to the island, and pulled her to it.

The boat started and a chase was initiated.

Blake continued to shoot, but her shots still got blocked.

"She is still coming!"

From her vision, she noticed Tracy's mouth was open. As if she was breathing heavily.

'I see... She is getting tired...'

Weiss stepped forward:

"I will handle her!"

Myrtenaster pierced the water and an ice wave started to freeze everything in it's path while being directioned at Tracy's boat.

She tried changing the direction, but the wave was spread.

Weiss thought: 'it doesn't matter if I can't freeze you. Not even you can pilot through ice!'

But she didn't evade anymore. The boat crashed against the ice and Tracy was sent flying due to the impact!

"Is she crazy?!" Shouted Weiss.

"Or a genius..." Muttered Blake. "She used the momentum to come at us! Russel, faster!"

"I can't!" He shouted back.

One of the bandages came from above and latched itself on the back of the boat.

Weiss started trying to slice it.

"It's useless" said Blake.

"Better than nothing!"

Russel looked back. To the two girls trying to free the boat.

"Blake, give me your sword".

"What?"

"Pilot the damn boat and give me your stupid sword!"

Blake didn't question him, after all, he was on her side. The girl changed places with her.

Russel got near Weiss:

"You are cutting the wrong place".

"You found a weak spot?"

"No" Russel sliced part of the boat. The bandage was holding that part, so it freed them from Tracy. "Heh, always works when I am chased".

* * *

Luna punched Lark against the ground and kicked Dove against a tree. Two powerfull moves that knocked them unconcious.

"Great" she muttered. "I can already hear Tracy saying 'for the purgatory, how could you, from all of us, let them escape? Vlad may be in danger, a danger you are incapable of sensing!' And blah blah blah! Aww c'mon, I didn't ask to be the strongest. And even so, it doesn't mean I am omnipotent".

She looked up. The dragon was flying away. She could follow, but...

She looked at Dove and Sky Lark. 'If I leave them here, they will die'.

* * *

Tracy fell at the water.

"So cold!" She looked at the boat getting away. "Grr..." Tracy got sad. "It's my own fault... I had them wrapped and still failed..."

She looked back. The island was beyomd her view already.

***sigh***

"It will be a long way back..."

* * *

**2nd ost, gentlemen:**

** watch?v=GzwTgTDw6uM**

* * *

The spear was swung and gained impulse when it hit Jaune's shield and sent him back.

'I... Can finally understand...' Thought Jaune.

The reason Vlad had such precision with a shotgun was because that wasn't just a shotgun. A magnum? A rifle? He still didn't know.

When the weapon had a wolf motif, there were the barrels. The ones of the eyes shot widespread pellets. The one of the mouth a powerful bullet.

When in spear mode, the blade somehow acquired the barrels. The main one was in top and the two smaller ones on the sides, to augment his swings.

Also... That unknown force in action on the forever fall... He finally understood...

"Cardin! He has teleknesis!"

Vlad opened his eyes wide 'what?! I still haven't used in battle!'

Vlad backed off:

"There goes my hidden ace..."

Extending his hand forward, a pulse in the air pushed Jaune and Cardin away.

"Very well... Time to get serious..."

The boys saw when he was activating his semblance full power.

The skin around his eyes got blood red, in an evil flame-like pattern. His pupils became vertical ones. His coat, wings and movements started to release a strange black smoke.

His wings beat and he shot at the ground, being propulsed into the air. He turned his body and kicked the roof, shooting again and flying in the direction of Cardin and Jaune.

"Watch out!" Shouted Cardin.

Jaune nodded:

"We will not fall, Vladimir!"

Jaune stepped forward and tried to block with his shield.

The impact was too great, he was threw away.

"Jaune!" Shouted Cardin.

The enemy spun mid-air, about to hit Cardin too. He hit the side of the spear, in order to not be thrown away but...

The spear twisted itself, becoming the double bladed triple bar. It sliced Cardins armor, throwing him away.

When he noticed Jaune coming, Vlad carved the spear on the ground and used it to support himself, kicking Jaune away.

When the blonde fell to the ground, he saw more of his enemy than he wanted:

He was standing on top of the spear, his eyes giving him fear and that black smoke of evil being released.

But the worse was what he noticed on Vlad's fighting style. That way of shooting to boost the attacks, to use the spear to move the body around...

It was...

"It's like Ruby's..."

Vlad gazed at him his eyes piercing Jaune's minds:

"You are reffering to the nephew of Qrow. It does not suit my tastes, but I admit it is a reliable style. Worthy and useful".

* * *

Ren's side...

Ren stopped Nero's talk before he could hear of the demise of his leader:

"Wait, team VLNT did all of this? How did they manage to get away?"

Nero looked at him in the eyes:

"You haven't noticed?"

"What?"

"I see..." Muttered Nora. "It all makes sense now! Wow... You mean all this time?"

Nero nodded.

"Wow..."

"What is going on?" Asked Ren.

* * *

Jaune looked at Cardin.

His condition wasn't any better. Both of them were already at their limits.

Cardin looked at him and opened his mouth:

"Jaune... Do you trust me?"

...

"Come again?"

"Do you trust me?"

Jaune closed his eyes. 'If I trust him? I don't even need to think the answer...'

"Yes. I do".

Cardin smiled and looked at Vlad, then to Jaune:

"We are already too tired. Fighting in sync isn't enough, but. Do you remember Oobleck's class?"

* * *

**Final OST for the finale!**

** watch?v=X3yYGioc7cY**

* * *

In the past...

For one of the few times, Oobleck spoke slow:

"There isn't something as singular triunph. Humans, faunus, even some of the grimm need to work together to survive. No matter how strong is the enemy, the power born of the bonds of the weak always have surpassed the singular power of the strong. However, this power is fragile. And one who doesn't care for another is fated to fall".

* * *

Jaune understood:

"Vlad is alone... We are together... But we are already weakened".

"It's better than nothing!"

"Very well... Let's do this..."

Jaune and Cardin got up.

Vlad held his spear with both hands. He was also tired. He had less than half of his aura remaining:

"Seems like you have manages to make your final decision".

Cardin nodded:

"For our victory".

Jaune stepped forward:

"This battle will end now!"

Vlad shook his head:

"My victory had already been decided. You gave me a splendid fight by the end, but underestimated me in the beginning. You shall take the toll of that decision now".

Jaune and Cardin noticed as Vlad's spear acquired red markings.

They looked at each other and nodded.

The sword was crossed with the mace.

* * *

Neo watched it from above. 'What is this?!'

Vlad was releasing power at dangerous levels, but from his opponents...

That power was outclassing his leader's.

'Impossible! I am without aura and am able to feel them!'

* * *

"Rwwwaaahhh!"

"Hhyaaaaahhh!"

Cardin and Jaune howled as they advanced together.

"It's useless!" Shouted Vlad.

The spear clashed against the sword and mace.

Static was released. It was if a storm was erupting between them.

'What...' Vlad's spear was shaking at the impact of energies. 'What is this power...'

.

.

.

?!

.

.

.

"Aaaargh!"

Vlad's glasses darkened out, protecting his sensitive eyes.

A blinding light was being released. He could feel it even if he had lost his vision. The light could be felt through his very soul.

'This... Is a blasphemy! Dracungnir can't be outclassed by them! Not after the power imput I used!"

* * *

''Cardin! It's working!''

''We will win, Jaune!''

* * *

On the ground he felt his feet being pushed back. He saw the cracks forming on the ground.

'This... Is impossible... This power is unnatural! It's exceeding the one they had individually!'

CRACK.

"Argh!"

His left hand, the closest to the explosion had fractured. The energies were still piercing the clash.

'Curses... It can't be... If I stay longer... I will lose?!'

He felt the power pushing back. He couldn't see anymore. Even using his semblance, he couldn't slow them or push them back.

"Raaaahhh!"

"Hyyaaaaahh!"

Their strength... He couldn't admit it. He didn't want to.

But the prince accepted it.

'They have empowered me'.

'It was a dangerous miscalculation. They are no different from my bond with Dracungnir. Their will to win surpassed mine...'

CRACK

The right len of his spectacles acquired a crack. Those glasses could withstand bullets and were being destroyed at that moment.

'Is it... My loss?'

.

.

.

'I am going to lose?'

.

.

.

"VLADIMIR!" Shouted Neo.

.

.

.

Vlad opened his eyes. 'No!'

'As the leader, I can't fail! As a prince, I refuse to fail! As a warrior, I would rather die than lose in this fake fight!'

'If I am to lose...'

'It won't be alone!'

Vlad extended his left hand forward, feeling the energy of the draw burning it.

He couldn't affect Jaune and Cardin anymore, but...

'You are using the last drops of your auras. You can't withstand this anymore. In the end, you. No, we are still mortals'.

* * *

Jaune and Cardin felt a strong wind and their senses falling. The room got cold. The pressure was falling. A pain covering their bodies. A difficulty to breath starting

'What the?!'

At that moment, weakened, they lost control over their attacks.

* * *

The energies of the three warrior exploded, sending all of them back.

* * *

"Aaaaaaaarrrghh!"

Vlad felt the energy coursing through his body. The power he couldn't fight anymore. He was being blown back

'This is not over!** This fight shall end...'**

* * *

Cardin and Jaune were being thrown away by the explosion:

"Aaaargh!"

"Guaarrrgh!"

* * *

**'... In a draw...'**

* * *

"JAUNE" shouted Yang deeply concerned.

Cardin and Jaune were knocked out away from each other.

Vlad was on the opposite side of the room, on the same conditions.

The three of them had passed out...

* * *

**Protagonist notes:**

**Luna was excited:**

**"Wow wow wow wow! Vlad didn't win! Oh my... Vlad didn't win, Tracy!"**

**Tracy looked at her angrily:**

**"I should kill you for treason! He might die now! Besides, stop trolling the readers, the chapter is still not over!"**

**"Oh yeah! Sorry, couldn't contain myself".**

**"Just... Continue it".**

* * *

Ren's side...

"What's going on?"

Nora looked at him and spoke cheerfully:

"You still haven't got it, silly?"

Ren blushed when he got called 'silly':

"Got what?"

Nero spoke:

"What is happening to you. It happened to Team VLNT. It happened to my team. Team MDNS was in charge of VLNT. VLNT in charge of JNPR this year".

"In charge? In charge of what?"

"Of the test. The one known as 'Competition Moon', Lie Ren".

* * *

**Protagonist notes:**

**Luna had an awkward face:**

**"Ugh... Nero told more than I expected... Well, I am going to play Donkey Kong now".**

**"You aren't going anywhere!"**

**Mummy Maker incapacitated Luna.**

**"Tracy, stop it! Donkey Kong Country 2, Tracy! Besides... This situation... All tied up... I am starting to like it..."**

**"You can't be serious. You are forbidden of playing videogames until you explain everything!"**

**"Whaaaaat?!"**

**"Our leader is unconcious while five students are coming to fight him! You are going to explain everything next chapter!"**

**"Noooooooo. Donkey Kong, Tracy! Donkey Kong Country 2! Twwwwooooooo!"**

**Tracy started pulling Luna around and muttered:**

**"Everything she makes us go through... Anyway, this was Team VLNT Onslaught arc finale. Rate and review as you wished. Hope you guys liked it. In the next chapter, she will explain it all".**

**"Noooooo..."**


End file.
